Lionheart
by Danny2202
Summary: Before the events of the first Ironman, Tony Stark had a child. Three months in captivity opened his eyes; not only about the direction of his company but about how he had become the father he had resented growing up. Tony escapes captivity with the aim to be a better father on top of becoming Ironman.
1. The Disappearance and The Return

**A/N: Alright. I'm not normally one to do these author's notes but I feel I need to explain a couple of things before we get into this. Firstly, this was originally written for my own entertainment. I had no plans on sharing this anywhere, however, after spending a lot of time writing this, I figured I should probably share it somewhere instead of it virtually collecting dust on my laptop.**

**It was only as I was writing chapter nine that I started considering sharing it. At that point, I decided to take a look through the Avengers archive and found some other fanfics with the same concept. (I have to say, some of those are amazing, and this probably won't meet the same standard). Any similarities between my OC and others OC's in a story with a similar concept is purely coincidental. I didn't read anything like this story until after finishing chapter nine.**

**Chapter One: The Disappearance and The Return**

**January 2009**

It was 3.35PM and Miss Henderson's second grade class had all left the playground in a hurry accompanied by their parents. All of her class, that is, save one: a young seven-year-old boy with gelled spiky black hair and blue eyes. Whilst it was frowned upon, as a teacher, to have favourites, it was a well-known fact amongst others in the profession that it was impossible not to have your favourites. It was just important not to show it. The young boy sat on the step outside her classroom staring at the gates intently was one of those children she couldn't help but view as a favourite. He was sweet, good-natured, hard-working and grounded despite his background. Whilst he didn't appear to share the same intellect as his father, he would always push himself and try his best, and Miss Henderson valued that.

In the five months that she'd been teaching the class, the boy had never been collected late. At 3.20 on the dot, a smartly dressed woman would always be there for the boy. Miss Henderson approached the boy, sitting down on the step next to him. "Who's coming to pick you up today, Leo?" She asked him gently.

The boy sighed as he looked up at her. "My Dad. I knew he'd forget," Leo grumbled as he dropped his gaze down to the floor. "He's _always _working."

Miss Henderson felt a pang of sympathy for the young boy. From the outside, his life looked glorious. He had a nice house, lots of money and a huge company to take over when he was older. It was only now, however, that Miss Henderson realised how little Leo spoke about his dad. Other children would ask him and the boy would, smartly, divert their attention on to something different. At the meet-the-teacher session at the start of the academic year, Miss Henderson had been excited to meet the boy's father; instead she'd spent fifteen minutes introducing herself and talking about Leo's progress to the man's assistant. Even on careers day, when all the parents had been invited in to speak about their own careers, Leo's father's assistant had come in his place.

Miss Henderson had never thought much of it. Juggling running a huge company and looking after a child had to be difficult but she had assumed that the man spent time with his son in the evenings. Leo's grumbled statement seemed to suggest the opposite. "What about Pepper? Shall we try calling her to come get you?" Miss Henderson suggested, though she wasn't sure that it would be a possibility. If the assistant wasn't busy elsewhere, there wouldn't have been arrangements for Leo's father to collect.

"She's in Washington. She went to see her mom," Leo answered with a shake of his head.

"Alright. Is there anyone-" Miss Henderson began to ask another question but was interrupted by a shout from across the playground.

"Leo! Come on!" Teacher and student were both equally surprised by the sudden voice. They both looked across the playground to find the source of the shout. A man in his late thirties stood at the gate, dressed in a black suit with his eyes covered by sunglasses.

"That's my dad," Leo told her, as if she didn't know who the man was. The young boy scrambled to his feet and grabbed his backpack then ran across the playground in a hurry. It wasn't the run of excitement to see his dad after a long day at school, like most of the children in her class. It was a scampered run in an attempt not to delay his dad any longer. There was no loving embrace when the boy reached his dad either. Instead, Leo slowed into a walk and headed off the school premises ahead of his dad.

Miss Henderson ran across the playground after father and son as they made the walk towards the black car waiting for them. "Actually, sir, if I could just have a moment of your time," She called after the father. This was her first time meeting him and she wasn't about to let him go rushing off without any introductions.

"Not a good time," the man responded dismissively as he reached the car. "I'm late for a meeting. Put something in my diary with my assistant when she returns next week."

"I am not a reporter! I am your son's teacher!" Miss Henderson exclaimed, exasperated. Miss Henderson prided herself in being level-headed and diplomatic with problematic parents. She had only just met the man and, with three sentences, he'd already annoyed her. "You are, in fact, twenty minutes late picking your son up and you seem more concerned about being late to a meeting than that."

The man turned to face her, taking his sunglasses off. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Miss?"

"Henderson," She told him through gritted teeth.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Miss Henderson, but you don't look old enough to have children of your own. So don't start trying to talk to me about parenting," the dad told her as he pulled the door of the car open. Miss Henderson stared at him in shock, no words coming to her for a response. "Leo, get in the car!" He instructed his son as the man got into the car himself.

Leo gave his teacher an apologetic look before opening the door of the car his side and climbing in, pulling the door shut behind him.

"Mr Stark-" Miss Henderson began in an attempt to start over but the billionaire continued to show no interest in a conversation with her. Tony pulled the car door shut and the car drove away, leaving Miss Henderson standing alone on the sidewalk trying not to imagine herself punching a parent in the face.

**February 2009**

Leo sat at the kitchen table, attempting to complete his homework. He was, however, being distracted by Pepper's continual attempts to usher his dad out of the house. From the parts of the conversation he had overheard, his dad was supposed to be on a plane heading to Afghanistan by now. Leo wasn't surprised to hear that his dad was, once again, late for something.

A sudden explosion from the TV screen on the wall of the kitchen distracted Leo from the interaction between his dad and Pepper. Leo looked at the TV screen to see a news report from Afghanistan, talking about how soldiers had died, and some in critical condition, after a mine explosion.

Leo felt a pang of dread in his stomach as he turned back to his dad, who was slowly pulling his suit jacket on whilst Pepper was pointing to her watch in frustration. "Don't go!" Leo exclaimed suddenly.

"It's work, kid. It's important," Tony told him.

"Exactly! It's important. Which is why you shouldn't be late," Pepper responded, using his own words against him.

"But you're _always _working. We _never _do anything fun together. It's just work, work, work, work, work," Leo yelled. "Johnny's dad takes him swimming. Mason's dad plays football with him. Jamie's dad goes to laser tag with him every single weekend and they only see each other on weekends. You do nothing with me."

"One day, you will understand that my work is important-" Tony began.

Leo cut him off, "One day, you will understand that family is important."

"Right. I'm going," Tony declared, turning and walking out of the room.

The brief pang of dread he had felt was long forgotten, instead replaced by anger and frustration towards his dad. Leo shouted after the figure of his dad walking away, "I hate you!"

Leo Stark sat in his second grade class paying no attention to Miss Henderson as she taught a Math class. It was the day after his dad had left for Afghanistan and he still felt lots of anger towards his dad. He'd watched, that morning, as his classmates had said their goodbyes to their dads; all complete with a loving embrace and nowhere near close to the 'I hate you' that Leo had told his dad. He didn't regret saying it. He just wished he didn't have to say it. He wished he had a dad who cared less about work and more about him.

"Leo Stark!" The sudden voice of his teacher, Miss Henderson, interrupted his thoughts. He looked up from the piece of paper he had been dawdling on and was surprised to see one of the receptionists in the doorway of the classroom. "Can you follow Miss Thompson to reception?"

Leo made no move to get up. "Why?" He questioned.

"Pepper needs to talk to you. It's important," Miss Thompson answered his question softly. Leo instantly felt uneasy. Miss Thompson had a reputation around the school for being blunt and grumpy. The tone she had used to answer him was neither of those. The way that she was looking at him also didn't match the usual disregard for children she normally had. It was caring, sympathetic and Leo didn't like it.

He picked his backpack up off the floor and made his way to the front of the classroom. The walk through the corridors from his classroom to the reception was done in silence. Leo was glad for that. He didn't want Miss Thompson talking to him in that soft, gentle way ever again.

Rounding the corner into the reception, Leo's eyes instantly fell on Pepper and he knew that something was seriously wrong. Her eyes were red and she was trying her hardest to push back tears that were threatening to escape her eye. Leo stopped in his tracks at the sight of yet another person being uncharacteristic. Pepper was normally well composed; he couldn't remember ever seeing Pepper upset like she was.

"Pepper?" He asked uncertainly.

"Leo. Something's happened. Your dad. He's missing."

**March 14th 2009**

Leo sat on the couch in the living room, watching a movie about spies as he fought to keep his eyes open. Pepper looked over the top of her laptop, smiling as she watched the boy's fight to stay awake. She closed the lid of her laptop and walked over to the couch, sitting down next to Leo. "Come on, you. Bed time. You must be tired after all that running around. I never knew you were so good at laser tag," Pepper commented.

"I want to finish the movie!" Leo complained, showing no signs of making any move. "I play laser tag whenever I go to Jamie's at the weekend. We team up against his dad!" Leo told her excitedly. He then, for the first time since the movie started, looked away from the TV screen, looking up at Pepper. "Thank you for organising the best birthday party ever!"

"It's not every day you turn eight, is it?" Pepper replied with a smile. Leo grinned back at her but the happiness suddenly disappeared from his face. "Are you thinking about him?" She asked gently.

"He should have been here today," Leo confirmed.

"They're still looking for him. They won't stop until they find him," Pepper told him, trying to keep Leo optimistic.

"I don't think… I want them to find him," Leo admitted hesitantly. Pepper stared at the young boy, unsure of how to respond. She knew Leo didn't have the closest relationship with his father but she would never have expected him to say that. Before Pepper could find a response, Leo continued, "These boys at school keep saying… they say that he's dead. I don't want them to find him dead."

Pepper had to stop herself from letting out a huge sigh of relief. Leo's expansion upon what he had said didn't sound as bad as his first statement. "Leo, the investigators don't think he's dead. They've found no evidence to suggest that. I wouldn't want to keep your hopes up. I'd tell you. There's bad people over there. They think they've got your dad."

"It's like the spy movie! They got caught by the bad guys but they escaped! They climbed through the vents and then fought their way out past the bad guys. Dad can do that. He can escape!" Leo exclaimed excitedly, suddenly full of energy, optimism and no longer fighting to keep his eyes open. Pepper couldn't see the young boy going to bed any time soon.

**April 2009**

Captivity was boring. Tony was glad he had Yinsen as company and the suit project to work on because, otherwise, he would have gone crazy within the first month of captivity. It was nearing three months now and he was really starting to get fed up of backgammon. Nevertheless, it was something to preoccupy himself with and so, each evening, Yinsen and Tony would sit down, play backgammon and talk. "You still haven't told me where you're from," Tony pointed out to Yinsen as he waited for Yinsen to take his turn.

"I'm from a small town called Gulmira," Yinsen told him as he rolled the dice onto the board. "It's actually a nice place."

"Got a family?" Tony asked him, interested in finding out more about the man he'd spent the last few months of his life with.

"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here," Yinsen answered, voice filled with a confidence that Tony was grateful for. Yinsen's confidence in their plan helped Tony to believe that he could pull it off. "And you, Stark?" Yinsen asked.

Tony met Yinsen's eyes momentarily before glancing down, clearing his throat before speaking, "Yeah. I've got a kid. A son."

"You've never mentioned him," Yinsen commented.

"I haven't stopped thinking about him," Tony replied with a sigh, a tone of regret filling his voice. "My own father was… distant. Busied himself with work. It seemed like that was all he cared about. He never took much time for me. I resented him for that and yet, I did what he did. The last thing Leo, my son, said to me before I came out here was that he hated me."

"How old is your son?" Yinsen asked.

"He's seven. No, I missed his birthday. He's eight now," Tony answered as he picked the dice up from the backgammon board, absent-mindedly messing with them in the palm of his hand.

"You still have time, when we get out of here, to put things right," Yinsen pointed out to him with all his optimism.

Tony nodded, "Yes. I have to."

**May 2009**

Leo Stark sat in his second grade class paying no attention to his class teacher. He was staring out the window, looking up at the planes flying over New York City hoping, as he did every day, that his dad was safe and sound on a plane coming back home. It was three months since Tony Stark had disappeared. Leo hadn't been told many details but he knew that his dad's convoy had been fired upon by enemy forces and Tony Stark hadn't been seen since. In the months since his dad's disappearance, Pepper had been looking after him; not that it felt much different from before his dad disappeared. For as long as he could remember, Pepper had always been the one watching out for him and comforting him when he was injured and ill. His dad was often busy with work and Leo hadn't ever gotten to spend much time with him. That didn't stop the young boy from missing his dad and wishing that he'd been there in March for his eighth birthday.

"Leo Stark!" The sudden voice of his teacher, Miss Henderson interrupted his thoughts. He turned his attention from the window and the planes to his teacher at the front of the room. Leo was less than happy to see Miss Thompson stood in the doorway of the classroom. He swallowed heavily as he tried not to let his mind go back to the news he'd received last time he was in this situation. "Can you follow Miss Thompson to reception?"

Leo frowned, confused as to what was going on but knew better than to ask. The sooner he got to reception, the sooner he'd find out what it was all about. He grabbed his backpack and followed the receptionist out of the room.

Rounding the corner into reception, Leo was met by the sight of Pepper. She looked nervous and upset but there was a spark in her eye, a spark that Leo hadn't seen for three months. Leo felt his heart beat faster in his chest, hoping that this was the moment he'd been dreaming of for the past three months. "Pepper?" He questioned as he approached her.

Upon seeing him, Pepper broke into a smile. A proper smile. Not the sympathy smiles that Leo had become used to seeing from everyone over the past three months but a proper, wholesome smile. "They found him, Leo. They found your Dad. He's coming home," Pepper told him the news.

With that news, Leo grinned and ran at Pepper, hugging her. "I knew it!" He whispered as they hugged. For the last three months, the young boy had insisted to everyone that his dad was still alive. He'd overheard on the news, before Pepper had a chance to turn it off, that there was a theory he was being held captive. Since then, Leo had formed a fantasy of his dad planning his escape; a fantasy he'd told everyone who would listen.

Pepper broke the hug after a while. "Come on," she said. "Let's go meet him at the airport."

Happy got them to the airstrip in rapid time. As soon as the car had stopped, Leo jumped out impatient to see his dad. Leo wasn't happy to learn that his dad's plane hadn't landed and that he'd have to wait around for it. Whilst waiting, Leo found a stone on the tarmac and entertained himself by using it to draw a small circle and then attempting to throw the stone into the circle. As time went by, Leo mastered the art of throwing the stone into the small circle and grew bored of the game.

Leo kicked the stone away and it was only once he finished his game that he realised they were no longer alone on the airstrip. Soldiers had arrived around them with an ambulance. Leo stared at the ambulance, worried.

"Hey, he'll be fine. He's just got a few injuries from his escape. It's nothing serious," Pepper assured him after spotting that he'd seen the ambulance.

After what felt like years of waiting, the US air force plane finally came into sight. "Look!" Leo exclaimed, spotting the plane first and pointing to it as it came into land.

"Just wait here. Don't bombard him. He's going to be tired," Pepper warned the excited young boy as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

Leo bounced from foot to foot impatiently as the back of the plane slowly opened. He grinned when the door opened enough to reveal Rhodey and his dad. The grin faltered slightly when he saw the wheelchair his dad was sat in, briefly concerned about injuries again. These concerns were quickly forgotten when Tony stood up and, with Rhodey's help, walked down the ramp onto the airstrip tarmac.

Leo got frustrated when he saw the paramedics got to approach his dad first. Why should complete strangers get to talk to him before he had a chance to? The frustration didn't last long as he watched his dad wave them away, instead walking straight to him and Pepper. Leo felt Pepper's grip on his shoulder loosen and, taking this as a sign that he could move now, Leo ran to Tony, wrapping his arms around his dad's waist. "Dad!"

"Hello Leo," Tony greeted the young boy, patting him on the back with his left hand and trying not to grimace as Leo knocked his sling. "Watch the arm, kid."

Leo pulled back instantly. "I'm sorry," he apologised.

"No, don't worry about it. Come here!" Tony said, smiling as he wrapped his left arm around his son. Leo grinned and Pepper couldn't stop herself from smiling at the sight. Whilst she knew he hadn't done it intentionally, Tony had never been particularly close with his son for the first seven years of his life. He let himself get too wrapped up in work and, by the time he was finally finished in the evenings, Leo would be fast asleep in bed. She hoped that three months away from Leo will have made him realise what he was missing. The sight in front of her suggested that could be the case. "Your eyes are red," Tony commented, speaking to Pepper, "A few tears for your long-lost boss?"

"Tears of joy," Pepper replied with a smile. "I hate job-hunting."

"Yeah, vacation's over," Tony responded before walking past her, heading to the car with Leo. Pepper followed after them, watching as Tony opened the door and ushered his son inside.

"Where to, sir?" Happy asked from the driver's seat as Pepper got into the car, pulling the door shut. Leo had done his seat belt up and was in the process of helping his dad with his, not that Tony couldn't have managed it single-handedly.

"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy," Pepper requested.

Tony immediately spoke up following her request, "No!"

"No?" Pepper repeated, looking straight over at him. "Tony you have to go to the hospital."

"No is a complete answer," Tony insisted, staying stubborn.

"The doctor has to look at you," Pepper told him, not ready to back down straight away.

"I don't have to do anything. I've been in captivity for three months," Tony reminded them, as if any of them could have forgotten so quickly. "There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger," he listed firstly, gaining approval from Leo.

"Yeah! Burgers!" Leo exclaimed, fully up for a trip to the nearest fast food restaurant. "And fries!"

"And fries," Tony agreed with a nod. "And the other-" Tony returned to his conversation with Pepper.

Before Tony could finish what he wanted to say, Pepper interrupted him with a pointed look at Leo, "That's enough of that."

"Is not what you think," Tony insisted. "I want you to call for a press conference now."

"Call for a press conference?" Pepper repeated.

"Yeah," Tony confirmed.

"What on Earth for?" Pepper questioned in an attempt to get more answers from Tony. After the ordeal he'd been in, surely a press conference was the last thing he wanted.

"Hogan, drive," Tony instructed, refusing to answer Pepper's question. "Cheeseburger first."

Happy nodded and started driving, leaving the airstrip behind. "Tony," Pepper started, trying once more to get some answers.

Tony seemed to be actively dodging giving her any sort of explanation as he turned his focus to Leo. "Look at you! You've got big. Eight years old now. How was the birthday party?"

As Leo excitedly began giving his dad all the details about his laser tag birthday party, Pepper gave up on trying to get an explanation and got her phone out to set up the press conference. Apparently, she'd know what he was up to when the press knew.


	2. New Beginnings

**Chapter Two: New Beginnings**

When the car pulled up at the press conference, Leo and Tony had eaten six burgers and fries between them. Tony got out of the car first to a reception of applause by a crowd gathered outside the building, Obadiah Stane at the forefront. "Look at this! Tony!" Obadiah greeted him, pulling Tony into an embrace as Leo climbed out of the car and Pepper got out at the other side. "We were going to meet at the hospital."

"No. I'm fine," Tony insisted for at least the tenth time that day as he stepped back from Obadiah and took the last burger from the packet Happy was holding out for him.

"You had to have a burger, yeah?" Obadiah commented as the group of four set off towards the building, Pepper noting Tony drop back to walk beside Leo. "You get me one of those?" Obadiah asked.

"There's only one left," Tony informed him. "I need it," he said, before holding the burger out for Leo to take, winking at the young boy to stay quiet. Leo grinned, the three burgers and fries were apparently not enough to fill him up. He unwrapped the burger, biting into it as they walked.

"Hey! Look who's here!" Obadiah announced when they reached the room in which the press had gathered. Cameras immediately started clicking as Tony followed Obadiah to the front of the room. Leo stopped walking, staying with Pepper at the back of the room.

As the reporters and press moved forwards to get a better view, Pepper and Leo were essentially left alone at the back of the room, except for one man dressed in a smart suit. "Miss Potts?" The man spoke up, gaining both Pepper and Leo's attention as they looked at him. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now," Pepper informed him, assuming the man was a reporter.

"I'm not a reporter," the man responded, correcting her. "I'm Agent Phil Coulson," he introduced himself, causing Leo to stare at him in fascination, "with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." He held a card out for Pepper to take.

"That's quite a mouthful," Pepper commented as she took the card, though she didn't seem particularly interested, much to Leo's confusion. Agents, particularly secret agents, were cool as far as he was concerned.

"I know. We're working on it," Coulson informed her.

"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA…" Pepper began to list but Coulson cut her off before she could list them all.

"We're a separate division with a more specific focus," Coulson told her. Even Leo realised how vague that was. "We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape."

"I'll put something in the book, shall I?" Pepper suggested.

Coulson seemed content enough with that response and nodded in agreement. "Thank you," he smiled before walking off.

"That was cool! Do you think they want Dad to become an agent?" Leo questioned enthusiastically, still watching Coulson as he walked away.

"I don't think he can keep enough secrets to be an agent," Pepper replied.

Leo scoffed, "He can keep a secret!"

"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" Tony questioned from the front of the room, bringing Pepper and Leo's attention back to the press conference. Tony was sat, leaning back against the podium he would traditionally be standing and talking from. "Why don't you just sit down?" He repeated again, the repetition resulting in the journalists listening and sitting down on the floor. "That way you can see me, and I can… A little less formal and…"

Leo followed suit with the reporters, sitting down on the floor with Pepper sitting next to him. Rhodey approached them from behind, crouching down to speak quietly to Pepper, "What's up with the love-in?"

"Don't look at me," Pepper replied, quickly glancing at Leo. "This one spent the whole car journey catching Tony up on the three months he missed. I didn't get the opportunity to find out what he's up to."

Up by the podium, Tony was busy having a conversation with Obadiah. "Good to see you," Tony said.

"Good to see you," Obadiah repeated the same words, placing a hand on Tony's shoulder.

"I never got to say goodbye to Dad," Tony told Obadiah before turning to face the gather journalists. "I never got to say goodbye to my father," he told the crowd and Leo momentarily met his dad's eyes. "There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. Ig eh was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels." There was a pause before Tony continued. "I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."

The journalists all suddenly called out in an attempt to ask a question. Tony indicated for one of the reporters in front of him to speak, "What happened over there?"

Leo sat up a little straighter. That was a question he was interested in. Agent Coulson's interest suggested something interesting must have happened.

Tony stood up, moving to the podium to answer the question. "I had my eyes opened. I came to realise that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing," at this point, all the reports immediately rose to their feet, calling out questions. Tony ignored them, continuing with what he was saying, "division of Stark Industries until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be."

Obadiah jumped to his feet, joining Tony at the podium and attempting to speak over him, "Okay, I think we're going to be selling a lot of newspapers."

Despite Obadiah's attempts to move Tony away from the podium, Tony kept talking, "What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." Satisfied that he'd said everything he wanted to, Tony walked away from the podium, leaving Obadiah to talk to the press.

As Leo followed Tony away from the press conference with Pepper and Rhodey, he was very confused as to what had just happened.

"What the hell are you thinking Tony?" Rhodey questioned after the group had found a side room in which to discuss the events of the press conference. "Stark Industries is a weapons manufacturer."

"What's your plan? You must have a plan," Pepper asked.

"Arc reactor technology," Tony replied confidently and triumphantly.

"Arc reactor technology?" Pepper found herself once again repeating one of Tony's crazy statements that day. "I thought that was just a PR stunt."

Tony nodded. "It was. _But_ it works," he grinned as he loosened his tie and started unbuttoning his shirt. "Look!" He pulled the shirt apart, revealing the miniaturised arc reactor in his chest.

Leo grinned in amazement as he stared at the circular light, "That's awesome!"

"I guess it looks awesome," Tony agreed, "but it's the only thing stopping me from dying right now. Shrapnel from one of my own weapons is near my heart. The magnet connected to this," he tapped the arc reactor, "is stopping the shrapnel from reaching it."

"Not so awesome," Leo decided with a shake of his head.

"Not that part, no," Tony agreed. "_But _I made a suit of armour to escape. This powered it and helped the suit to fly."

"So it is awesome!" Leo exclaimed triumphantly. It also explained Agent Coulson's visit.

Upon eventually returning home, Tony instructed Leo to get his homework done before they did something fun. Tony disappeared down to his lab shortly afterwards, leaving Leo sat on the couch doing work on a laptop whilst Pepper did some of her own work on the laptop. From what Leo could make out from the shouting man on the TV, Stark Industries was being made fun of. Leo paid very little attention to the TV. Stark Industries was his dad's thing, and something he didn't really understand. Instead, he tried to focus on understanding the Science homework in front of him, which wasn't going very well.

Pepper turning the TV off suddenly took his focus away from the homework and onto what she was doing. She'd moved away from the laptop and was heading towards the steps going down to his dad's shop. "I'm going downstairs to help your dad. Call me if you need anything," she told him. Leo nodded and, once Pepper was out of sight, left his homework unattended and turned the TV back on, flicking onto a more interesting channel than the one the shouting man was on.

When Tony had requested she go downstairs to help him, Pepper had not been expecting to play a real-life game of operation. The entire situation made her extremely grateful that she had never opted to become a surgeon; it was stressful and gross. "Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again," Pepper told him as she held the old miniaturised arc reactor she had taken out of him in her hands.

"I don't have anyone but you," Tony stated meaningfully as he stared up at her from the chair he was lying in. There was a moment of silence as the pair stared at each other. "Anyway," Tony moved on, breaking the silence as he pushed himself up from the chair. "I need to thank you."

"Well, I'm never doing it again," Pepper restated, determined to get it into his head that the next time it needed changing, he was to find someone else.

"No, not about this. Though thank you for this. But I meant, thank you for looking after Leo," Tony said to her. "Thank you for the last three months but also the last eight years. You've done so much for him over the last eight years when I was caught up with work. I couldn't have done it without you."

Pepper tried not to gape at him. It was the sincerest she had ever heard Tony Stark. With his attitude at the press conference compared with his sincerity in this moment, she had to wonder whether the man in front of her was the same man who had flown off to Afghanistan. "You're welcome," was all Pepper could manage in response.

"I'm not going to leave it all to you anymore," Tony told her as he pulled his shirt back on. He was going to be a proper dad to Leo now. A dad that Leo could be proud of.

"Sounds great," Pepper smiled, hoping he really did mean what he said. Not that she minded looking after Leo, but it would be great for him to have a proper parental figure. "Now, what do you want me to do with this?" Pepper asked, bringing his attention back to the arc reactor in her hands.

"That?" Tony said, barely glancing at it. "Destroy it. Incinerate it," he told her, tapping the new one in his chest. He had no need for the one in Pepper's hands any longer.

"You don't want to keep it?" Pepper asked him, briefly glancing down at it before looking back up at Tony. With all the fuss being made about arc reactor technology, preserving the first working one seemed important to Pepper.

"Pepper, I've been called many things. Nostalgic is not one of them," Tony responded, certain that there was no use for the arc reactor which had been crucial to his success.

Tony returned upstairs to find Leo sat on the couch watching a spy movie. The kid was obsessed with spies and Tony was certain that the boy had seen every single spy movie appropriate for his age at least five times. "Have you done your homework?" Tony asked him, making Leo, who had been entirely engrossed in his movie, aware of Tony's presence.

"Err… not exactly," Leo replied sheepishly as Tony moved over to Leo's homework on the table, picking it up and reading through it.

"Why not?" Tony questioned as he read what Leo had written before getting distracted by his spy movie.

"It's too hard," Leo answered dismissively, showing no interest in returning his focus to his homework, far too interested in the movie he was watching.

"You know, what you've written is all correct. It's really good," Tony praised him, placing the piece of paper back on the table and walking over to sit next to Leo on the couch.

"Except for the spelling," Leo sighed as Tony put an arm around him and began trying to figure out what was going on in the movie that Leo was watching.

"We can work on the spelling," Tony told him. Leo only scoffed in response. "Besides, look at Da Vinci and Einstein. They were both really successful despite dyslexia. Spelling doesn't matter that much."

Leo scoffed again, "Try telling my teacher that!"

"I'd rather not," Tony responded quickly. "I don't think we got off on the best foot. I should probably amend that," he realised after a moment's thought.

Leo looked up at Tony, confusion clear across his face. "You're going to see my teacher?" He asked in surprise. He'd gotten used to Pepper handling the academic side of his life over the past few years that he'd been at school. It was Pepper who had fought to get his diagnosis of dyslexia and it was Pepper who had attended all the parent-teacher conferences at the school. In fact, the only time Tony had stepped foot at his school was when he had been twenty minutes late picking him up, and even then he'd stayed at the gate and barely ventured on to school premises.

Tony reached for the remote and turned the television off. Much to his surprise, Leo made no complaints, too busy being visibly confused over the idea of his dad showing an interest in his schooling. "Listen, Leo. I know I haven't been the best dad to you. The day I left for Afghanistan, you were right. It was always about work," Tony began.

"I wasn't right," Leo interrupted him quickly. "I said I hated you. But I don't hate you and I shouldn't have said it."

"I know, kiddo," Tony told him with a small smile as he ruffled the young's boy hair. "But you were right that I'd come to understand that family is important. I thought about you every day and I realised that I had been too caught up in work. The same thing I resented my own father for. _You_ are more important to me than work and I'm going to show you that from now on," Tony promised him.

Leo grinned, "I love you, dad."

Tony smiled at that. It wasn't something he heard Leo say very often. That was something he hoped to change. "Right back at you, Leo," he replied. "We'll leave the homework for tomorrow, shall we?"

"Yeah!" Leo agreed enthusiastically. "Can we put the movie back on now?"

"Of course," Tony agreed, using the remote to turn the TV back on. He still had no idea what was happening in the movie but he didn't care. It was fun to forget about work and invest some time in his child's interests.

Pepper entered the living room two hours later, horrified to find a horror movie playing on the television screen. She was all for Tony being more of a father to Leo, but not if he was going to introduce the boy to inappropriate movies. She made a run for the remote and turned the television screen off, fully expecting shouts from Tony. Instead, there was silence. She turned to look at Tony and Leo on the couch; both were fast asleep, Tony's arm around Leo whose head was rested against Tony's chest. She smiled at the sight before turning the light off and leaving the room.


	3. Initial Tests

**Chapter Three: Initial Tests**

Tony stirred at 2am to find Leo fast asleep against his chest. He'd dreamed of flying again. He had done it once before; he could do it again. His mind was alert with all sort of ideas. There was no way he was getting back to sleep anytime soon. He wanted to get started on adapting the technology he had used in his escape. To do so, he just had to get up and get down to his shop without waking Leo.

As gently and slowly as possible, Tony lifted Leo off him and lay him back down on the couch. The boy stirred slightly, mumbling something in his sleep that Tony couldn't make out, but quickly fell silent and still again. Tony knew that Pepper would advise him to take Leo up to his bed but the boy had nearly woken when moved slightly. Taking Leo upstairs to his bedroom would most likely wake him up. Tony decided to leave him on the couch and went straight to the steps down to his shop.

Once he got downstairs, Tony sat down at his computer, waking it up by hitting numerous buttons on the keyboard. "Jarvis, you up?" Tony questioned as the three computer screens in front of him burst into life, showing him models of the suit he used to escape as well as various codes.

"For you, sir, always," the AI responded to him instantly. Tony smiled, he could always trust Jarvis to be ready to help at all times.

"I'd like to open a new project file, index as Mark Two," Tony informed Jarvis as he moved the Mark One suit plans from the computer screen on to the holographic projector beside the computer.

"Shall I store this on the Stark Industries Central Database?" Jarvis questioned as Tony stood up, walking around the computer screens to the holographic image of the suit in order to get a better look at it.

"Actually, I don't know who I can trust right now," Tony told Jarvis as Tony stood opposite the holographic image of the suit, looking straight at the helmet of the Mark One. "Till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server?" Tony suggested to Jarvis.

"Working on a secret project, are we, sir?" Jarvis asked as Tony interacted with the holographic image, pushing the helmet back.

"I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands," Tony told him as he lifted the chest piece and helmet off of the holographic Mark One, chucking both pieces into the holographic trash bin beside the suit. Tony spun the holographic image around to get a better look at the back of it. "Maybe in mine, it can actually do some good," he theorised, taking the back piece off the suit and throwing that in the trash bin too.

"Woah! Is that what you used to escape?" The sudden voice made Tony jump and he span around to see Leo, complete with bed-hair, standing in the doorway, half-asleep yet eyes alert and fascinated. It turned out, Tony had not been as successful at moving the young boy without waking him as he had initially thought.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, it is," Tony confirmed, smiling at the boy. He knew the responsible thing would be to get Leo into his bed and get him back to sleep but it was early Sunday morning which meant he didn't have to be up for school later that morning. "Want to get a closer look?" He asked, gesturing for Leo to move further into the room.

Leo didn't need asking more than once. He ran over to Tony, looking at the holographic image with utter intrigue. "Are you going to re-make it?" He breathed out in barely more than a whisper.

"Yep. Want to help?" Tony asked him. What said father-son bonding better than building a flying suit together?

"Of course!" Leo exclaimed immediately, bouncing up and down in excitement. From the amount of energy Leo was displaying, no one would have guessed it was the middle of the night.

"One condition though," Tony started, pointing at Leo, "It stays secret. Just between me and you. No one else needs to know."

"Like spies!" Leo exclaimed, the idea only adding to his level of excitement.

Tony grinned at the child's excitement, "Just like spies!"

Leo sat in his second-grade class, paying very little attention to whatever Miss Henderson was saying. His attention was on the analogue clock on the wall above the interactive whiteboard at the front of the class. The entire day had dragged but it was finally getting closer to 3.20pm. His dad had dropped him off that morning, making sure to say hello to Miss Henderson and start up a friendly conversation to continue building on the relationship he'd spent thirty minutes salvaging after school the day before. On the car journey to school that morning, however, Leo and Tony's conversation had been entirely on the boots they'd spent the last few days working on. As they had pulled up at the school gates, Tony had told Leo he planned on having them finished by the time Leo got back from school.

Thanks to that comment, Leo hadn't been able to concentrate all day, too excited to test the boots. The fact that it was the last day of school before the summer break didn't help the time go any faster earlier. He grinned when the clock hit 3.20pm and, as soon as Miss Henderson dismissed them, made a run out of school. "Come on, Pepper! Let's go!" He encouraged her when he reached her on the playground.

Pepper, however, didn't share his rush to get home. Instead, she was more interested in speaking to his teacher and collecting a list of spelling words to help him ahead of the next academic year. The conversation seemed to go on for years, leaving Leo growing irritated and restless in the school playground.

"What's got you in such a rush?" Pepper asked once they were finally in the car and heading for home.

"Nothing," Leo shrugged from the back seat as he stared out of the window, watching the world pass them by. He was determined to be like the spies in the movies he watched and keep a secret.

"Miss Henderson said you lacked concentration in school today," Pepper commented and Leo rolled his eyes. One day where he paid little attention in class and Pepper was immediately told about it. "Is something bothering you at school?"

"It was the last day before summer. It's pointless! You don't do any proper work," Leo defended himself. "It wasn't worth going in."

"So that's why you were pretending to be ill this morning," Pepper realised.

'_Not exactly.' _Leo thought but bit his lip. "Yep," he answered simply.

Leo had never felt so glad to be home. At various points throughout the day, including the car journey back, it felt like it was never going to happen. They had managed to hit every single red light on the journey home and the car journey doubled in time compared to usual. He ran up the path to the door and chucked his backpack on the floor. "I'm going to find Dad!" He called to Pepper as he set off for the stairs leading downstairs.

"Not so fast, Mister!" Pepper called after him as she entered the house, placing the car keys on a hook in the safe near the door. Leo stopped in his tracks, turning to face her. "I don't thing your backpack belongs there," she told him as she stepped over it.

Leo sighed and walked back over to the door, picking it up and carrying it over to the cupboard to put it away properly. "Anything else?" He asked impatiently.

"Don't you want a snack or a drink?" Pepper asked in response. It had become part of Leo's routine for him to get home from school and go straight to the kitchen for food and drink. Pepper often had to follow him in to make sure he didn't eat too much and ruin his appetite for dinner.

"Maybe later," Leo replied as he ran to the steps, taking them two at a time down to see his dad. Leo punched his code in at the glass door and burst into the large room to see his dad, wearing the boots and setting up one of the lights. "You finished them?"

"Hey Leo!" Tony greeted him with a smile upon noticing his arrival. "I said I would, didn't I? How was school?"

"It _dragged_," Leo answered, emphasising the word by dragging it out, making Tony laugh. "And we hit every single red light. It was a nightmare!" He exaggerated, eyes lingering on the boots Tony was wearing. "Can we test them?"

"We sure can!" Tony agreed. "But you need to stand well back. There is a very small chance this could go a bit wrong."

Leo nodded, backing all the way up against the wall opposite where Tony was stood. "If it does go a little bit wrong, am I allowed to tell the secret to the ambulance people?"

"If a little bit wrong gets the emergency services involved, I'd hate to see how bad a lot wrong is," Tony retorted without answering Leo's question. Leo wasn't sure whether that meant he could tell the secret or not but Tony started before he could get him to elaborate. "Okay, let's do this right," Tony said as he took steps back from the light he had been turning on when Leo entered. "Start mark, half a meter, and back and centre." Once in position, Tony let out a big breath, not really believing what he was about to do. "Dum-E, look alive. You're on standby for fire safety. U, roll it," he spoke to the two robots, instructing them on their jobs. "Okay. Activate hand controls."

Leo watched in suspense, his heart beating fast as the whirring of the technology activating filled the room. "We're going to start off nice and easy," Tony stated for the record. "We're going to see if ten percent thrust capacity achieves lift. And three, two, one." On one, Tony pulled on the hand controls.

The next thing Leo knew, Tony had catapulted backwards, been thrown into the lowered ceiling and dropped to the floor behind the workstation. Leo ran forwards and Dum-E released the fire extinguisher onto Tony. "Dad!" He called, running around the workstation to find Tony on the floor, a slight bruise already formed on his head, chuckling to himself.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Tony assured Leo as he pushed himself up onto his feet, smiling away. "I think that went just a little bit wrong."

"At least it didn't happen during your escape," Leo shrugged nonchalantly. As much as he wanted them to succeed in creating a flying suit, he knew his dad was smart enough to pull it off eventually. After all, he managed it the first time around. It would only be a matter of time before he re-created it in a better form.

"True," Tony agreed. "Come on, let's get back to work."

Ever since Tony's return from three months of captivity, Tony and Leo had been practically inseparable. Prior to Leo finishing school for summer break, it had been a task for Pepper to get him out of the house and to school. The boy had spent many mornings trying to convince her that he was too ill to go into school and whilst he claimed that was because he found the end of the school term pointless, Pepper had a feeling it was because of the new father-son bond that the two Stark boys had struck up. She only hoped it would last. If Tony were to fall back into his old ways, she knew that Leo would be devastated.

The benefit of Leo spending more time downstairs with Tony was that Pepper could be more productive, giving her the chance to spend more time focusing on her work. The only problem was it got a little bit lonely upstairs by herself sometimes. She was in the kitchen, preparing drinks for Leo and Tony, who hadn't resurfaced from downstairs in a while, when the doorbell rang.

Pepper opened the door with a smile and was met by the sight of Obadiah Stane, pizza box in hand. "Obadiah, hello!" She greeted. "How did the meeting go?"

"As well as it could have without Tony's presence," Obadiah replied vaguely as he stepped through the door. "Is he here?"

"I'll get him for you," Pepper answered as Obadiah continued through into the living room, making himself at home.

After attempting unsuccessfully to contact Tony a number of times through the intercom, Pepper resorted to the old-fashioned method of walking down there and telling him herself. She stopped by the kitchen first, collecting the coffee she made for Tony, juice for Leo and a parcel delivery to take down to the shop. Taking the steps slowly so not to spill either of the drinks, Pepper watched as Tony messed with a metal brace on his arm whilst Leo watched on with a massive grin on his face. "I've been buzzing you," Pepper informed Tony as she walked through the door into the large room. "Did you hear the intercom?" Pepper asked as she handed Leo the cup of juice, placing the parcel and Tony's mug of coffee on one of the many messy workstations. She couldn't help but wonder just what Tony and Leo were up to.

"Yeah, everything's…" Tony murmured absent-mindedly as his focus maintained on the device on his right arm. "What?" He asked, briefly glancing at Pepper before returning his focus to his arm.

"Obadiah's upstairs," Pepper informed him as Tony lifted his right arm off the table, placing his left hand under it to support the weight. "What would you like me to tell him?"

"I'll be right up," Tony told her as he steadied himself, getting ready to test the stabiliser.

Pepper walked closer to Tony, watching him with some confusion whilst Leo grinned next to her. "I thought you said you were done making weapons?" She questioned.

"It's not a weapon," Leo informed her matter-of-factly.

"This is a flight stabilizer," Tony expanded upon Leo's response as he pressed the button on the workstation to power it up. "It's completely harmless," he assured her.

Suddenly, the flight stabilizer burst into life, sending a destructive blast forwards and sending Tony flying backwards into the shelving unit complete with tools behind him. Pepper covered her ears at the noise whilst Leo simply rolled his eyes. "That keeps happening," he told Pepper.

"I didn't expect that," Tony groaned. Leo couldn't stop himself from laughing. Pepper simply shook her head in disbelief and walked away.


	4. Not One Word

**Chapter Four: Not One Word**

After tidying up the mess the failed flight stabiliser test had created, Tony and Leo took the steps to the ground floor so Tony could speak to Obadiah. Upon reaching the living room, Tony noted that Obadiah had made himself right at home, sitting at the piano playing a tune whilst the drink he had poured himself sat on top of the piano.

"How'd it go?" Tony asked him as Leo made a run for the pizza box on the table, grabbing a slice from inside and settling down on the couch to eat it. "That bad, huh?"

"Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad," Obadiah replied from the piano as Tony got himself a slice of pizza from the box too, sitting next to Leo on the couch to eat it.

"Sure doesn't," Tony replied after taking a bite out of his pizza, not sounding convinced.

Obadiah stopped playing the piano. He stood up, picking up his drink and walked over to where Tony, Pepper and Leo were sat. "It would have gone better if you were there," he told Tony.

"You told me to lay low. That's what I've been doing," Tony defended himself, winking at Leo who knew exactly what Tony had been doing. "I lay low, and you take care of all-"

"Hey, come on," Obadiah interrupted Tony as he sat down opposite Tony and Leo, "In public. The press. This was a board of directors meeting."

"This was a board of directors meeting?" Tony repeated, as if it was the first time he'd heard about it.

"The board is claiming you have posttraumatic stress. They're filling an injunction," Obadiah told Tony. Leo didn't understand the meaning of that sentence but was quite content in staying quiet and eating pizza as he leaned forward for another slice. He never seemed to understand much that came out of Obadiah's mouth.

"A what?" Tony questioned.

"They want to lock you out," Obadiah explained in simpler terms when Tony questioned it. Leo still didn't understand what that meant.

"Why? Cause the stocks dipped forty points? We knew that was going to happen," Tony argued, joining in with the "let's-use-terms-Leo-won't-understand" game.

"Fifty-six and a half," Pepper corrected him.

Tony's head turned sharply to look at Pepper when she joined in the conversation, "It _doesn't_ matter. _We _own the controlling interest in the company."

"Tony," Obadiah spoke up resulting in Tony turning to look back at him, "The board has rights too. They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest." Leo sighed, not interested in company talk. He just wanted to be back downstairs trying to help his dad figure out what had gone wrong with the flight stabilisers.

"I'm being responsible!" Tony exclaimed. Leo could tell he was getting frustrated with the conversation too, though he knew it was probably for a different reason. "That's a new direction for me, for the company." Obadiah stared at Tony with a look of disbelief. "I mean, me on the company's behalf, being responsible for the way that…" Tony looked between Obadiah and Pepper, neither of whom seemed to agree, from their facial expressions, with what he was saying. Tony saw no point in trying to argue with them. "This is great," Tony said sarcastically as he stood up, grabbing the pizza box off the table.

"Oh, come on. Tony. Tony!" Obadiah called after him, finishing his drink before standing up.

"I'll be in the shop," Tony told them as he continued walking. With that announcement, Leo jumped to his feet, eager to get back downstairs.

"Hey, hey! Hey, Tony. Listen," Obadiah caught up with Tony, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Leo stopped at the top of the stairs, sighing impatiently as he waited for his dad. "I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them." Obadiah pointed at the arc reactor in Tony's chest. "Let me have the engineers analyse that. You know, draw up some specs."

"No," Tony answered point-blank.

"It'll give me," Obadiah tried to continue.

"No," Tony repeated again.

"A bone to throw the boys," Obadiah continued over Tony's protests.

"Absolutely not," Tony refused once more.

"In New York," Obadiah finished despite Tony's refusal.

"This one stays with me," Tony insisted and it was clear to see that any attempts to change his mind would be futile. "That's it, Obi. Forget it," Tony finished and started to walk off, pizza box in hand.

Obadiah grabbed the pizza box out of Tony's hand. "Alright, well this stays with me then," he told Tony as he opened the box. "Go on, here, you can have a piece," he offered. "Take one for Leo." Tony returned to Obadiah, not about to turn down free food, and picked up the two slices of pizza.

"Thank you," Tony said before joining Leo at the top of the stairs and handing him one of the slices of pizza. "Come on, Leo," he said, setting off down the stairs.

"You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?" Obadiah asked.

"Good night, Obi," Tony responded, turning him down whilst half-way down the stairs.

As they reached the bottom of the steps, Leo looked up at Tony. "What does injunction mean?" He asked, still trying to figure out what the entire conversation between Tony and Obadiah had been about.

Tony sighed. "It means leaving me with no control over the company," he explained, figuring there was no point hiding anything from Leo. "You don't need to worry about that though. Let's get these stabilizers sorted!" Leo grinned, running ahead into the room.

On the eleventh morning since they started working on the flight stabilizers, Leo woke bright and early. He had gained only a few hours of sleep, having worked long into the night with his dad to, hopefully, perfect the flight stabilisers. Eager to test them, and hopefully see them successfully work, Leo saw no need for a lot of sleep.

Leo was unpleased, however, to learn that his dad was still asleep when he got up and resorted to going downstairs to the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. The cereal boxes were stored out of his reach in one of the overhead cupboards so Leo decided to raid the fridge for chocolate instead.

Tony entered the kitchen ten minutes later to see the bowl full of chocolate that Leo had on the table in front of him. "Breakfast of champions?" He commented with a grin as he went straight for the coffee machine, grabbing a mug and selecting the coffee he wanted.

"Hopefully!" Leo responded enthusiastically.

"Ready to get going?" Tony asked, picking up his freshly made coffee from the machine.

"Born ready!" Leo grinned, full of excitement.

Tony and Leo had gotten to the top of the stairs by the time Pepper walked in. "You two aren't planning on spending all day down there again, are you?" She questioned.

Tony and Leo looked at each other before replying. "Probably," Leo nodded.

Pepper sighed in minor amusement, "You know there's a whole wide world out there to explore."

"There's a whole world down there to explore," Leo replied with a shrug.

"A _dangerous _one," Pepper emphasised with a pointed look at Tony.

"That was a… minor miscalculation," Tony defended himself. "It's all sorted now. It's safe," Tony added, earning yet another pointed look from Pepper. "Safe-ish," he amended which did nothing to calm Pepper's concerns.

Eventually, Tony and Leo were able to escape Pepper and get downstairs. As Tony made some final amendments to the equipment and put it on, Leo gave the recording device to U and ensured that the record button had actually been pressed. "Let's do this!" Leo grinned at Tony.

"Alright, stand back," Tony instructed. Leo, fully aware now of how badly wrong these tests could go, didn't need telling twice. He backed up as far as possible, leaning back against the glass wall separating the room from the stairs. "Day eleven, test thirty-seven, configuration two-point-oh. For lack of a better option, Dum-E is still on fire safety." Tony turned, speaking directly to the robot, "If you douse me again and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college." Tony turned back to face the camera recording the test. "Alright, nice and easy," he instructed, bending his knees and bracing himself for a potentially successful lift off. "Seriously, just going to start off with one percent thrust capacity," he reported, putting his arms out and taking in a sharp breath. "And three, two, one," he counted down and, on one, Leo was half expecting his dad to go catapulting through the air once again. Instead, he was levitating about a foot off the ground.

"It's working!" Leo exclaimed, not quite believing what he was watching. Despite concentrating entirely on maintaining control, Tony was able to flash an ecstatic grin at Leo before dropping back onto the ground. "That was great!"

"That was good," Tony gave a short nod of agreement with his son though he was pre-occupied by the sight of Dum-E following him around with the fire extinguisher. "Please don't follow me around with it either because I feel like I'm going to catch on fire spontaneously," he addressed the robot, causing its head to drop. "Just stand down. If something happens, then come in," Tony instructed. "And again. Let's bring it up to 2.5. Three, two, one." On one, the thrusters came back on and Tony was lifted into the air again. He didn't seem to have quite as much control with more power, roaming over towards the ramp out of the garage.

"Watch the cars," Leo called out as Tony made a sudden turn towards the collection of vintage and new cars he had.

"Okay, this is where I don't want to be!" Tony admitted, grimacing as he slowly flew above each of the cars in his collection. Despite not being in full control, Tony eventually managed to return to his initial starting point where he killed the thrusters, returning his feet to solid ground. "Yeah, I can fly," he stated with a grin.

"Nice one, Dad!" Leo exclaimed as he ran over. The father and son pair high-fived each other in celebration.

"Now for the whole suit," Tony declared.

The rest of the suit was so much simpler than the flight stabilisers. It only took two days cooped up downstairs for Tony, with Leo's 'help', to complete the Mark 2 suit. It was night by the time they got it complete and ready for use but neither Stark could wait until the next day to test the whole thing out. Patience wasn't exactly a Stark trait, they realised.

"You look super cool!" Leo grinned as he stared at the silver suit Tony was wearing whilst they waited for Jarvis to upload onto the suit interface.

"That's the plan," Tony responded, his slightly robotic voice surprising Leo initially.

"I think it needs a bit of colour," Leo commented as he inspected the suit.

"We'll work on it," Tony agreed.

Whilst the initial idea wasn't to send the suit out into the real world straight away, Tony quickly had a change of heart. One moment Leo was admiring the suit, the next thing he knew, his dad was out of the garage via the ramp at speed. Leo ran to the nearest workstation, grabbing a tablet. "Jarvis! Get me vision cam on this thing. I want to see what Dad's seeing," Leo instructed as he took a seat in his dad's office chair, grabbing the nearest earpiece off the desk so to speak directly to Tony. "Dad! How's it going?" Leo asked, watching on the tablet as he flew over the ocean just outside their house.

"Handles like a dream," Tony reported, setting off towards the coast at some speed. Leo grinned as he watched his dad pass the pier's big wheel and fly further towards the heart of the city.

All of a sudden, the view on Leo's tablet changed from one of the city below to the night's sky. "Dad? What are you doing?" He asked.

"Seeing what this thing can do," Tony answered, determined, before addressing Jarvis, "What's SR-71's record?"

"The altitude record for fixed wing flight is eighty-five thousand feet, sir," Jarvis replied, bringing information about the SR-71 up on Leo's tablet. There was no way he was about to sit there and read through all the information on screen.

"Records are meant to be broken," Tony spoke confidently and Leo watched, fascinated, as the moon on the tablet he was watching on got closer.

"Sir, there is a potentially fatal build-up of ice occurring," Jarvis warned as Tony got higher.

"You can do this dad," Leo encouraged him, excited about the possibility of breaking a record, not thinking about the dangers of the build-up of ice. Tony continued to push on higher and it was only when his dad was falling out of the sky, power lost from his suit as a result of the ice, that Leo realised the danger he was in.

Feeling helpless, Leo's grip on the tablet tightened as Tony fought to break the ice and regain control of the suit. Leo couldn't bring himself to look away from the screen, hoping his dad would solve the problem in time. Leo let out a huge sigh of relief and cheered as he watched his dad pull up just moments before he would have hit the ground. Leo was relieved to see his dad head for home after that. "Kill power," Leo heard Tony instruct over the earpiece just before he took it out and turned the tablet off.

The very next thing Leo heard was loud crashes and banging from above before Tony, dressed in the suit, came crashing through the ceiling, landing on and squashing the blue sports car among his collection. Dum-E wasted no time in turning the fire extinguisher on and dousing Tony. Leo ran over, grinning madly. "That. Was. Awesome!" Leo exclaimed, emphasising every word.

Tony groaned as he took the helmet off, looking at Leo in all seriousness, "Not one word about that to Pepper."

Leo stared at him in all sincerity. "Uh-Uh," he confirmed as he shook his head. Pepper would not have been impressed by that.


	5. Who Wants to Crash a Party?

**Chapter Five: Who Wants to Crash a Party?**

The following day, once again, saw Tony and Leo spend most of their time downstairs. Tony spent the day tinkering with the suit, making little improvements whilst Leo watched in fascination and was quizzed on spelling words.

At seven o'clock in the evening, Leo went upstairs in search of food and drinks, entering the kitchen to find Pepper dressed in a long blue dress. "There's the stranger! Are you really going to spend your entire summer break cooped up down there?"

"It's fun," Leo argued with a shrug as he went straight to the fridge, pulling it open to inspect its contents. "I'm spending time with my dad _and _I'm learning those spellings so its educational."

"Did your dad tell you to say that?" Pepper questioned. It sounded like something Tony would say.

"Maybe," Leo answered, dragging the word out, suggesting he was told to say it. "It's true though," Leo said as he grabbed a can of soda and a whole load of chocolate out of the fridge. "Where are you going?"

Pepper hesitated slightly before answering, "To a party."

"Enjoy!" Leo flashed her a smile before leaving with his arms full of chocolate, quite surprised that he'd managed to get out of there without her making him put any of it back.

Three hours later, Tony and Leo had finished off the chocolate between the pair of them, though Leo had eaten considerably more than Tony who was too busy talking fancy science stuff that Leo didn't understand with Jarvis. "Leo! You wanted colour. What were you thinking?" Tony asked the young boy.

"Definitely red!" Leo replied immediately. Tony should have known he was going to say that. The boy was obsessed with the colour red, though he couldn't work out the reason for the obsession.

"Alright Jarvis, you heard the boy! Red it is. And add in some gold," Tony instructed. Those two colours often seemed to complement each other nicely. Tony grinned when he saw the two colours together on the virtual screen. "What do you think?" Tony asked Leo, spinning the screen around for the boy to have a look.

"It's great!" Leo nodded in approval.

"Fabricate it. Paint it," Tony instructed Jarvis as he turned the screen back around so he could see it.

"_Tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall, where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for LA high society," _the mention of Tony's name on the news report playing in the background caught both Stark's attention.

"Jarvis, we get an invite for that?" Tony asked, confused, knowing that he hadn't seen one himself.

"I have no record of an invitation, sir," Jarvis answered immediately.

"_Tony Stark hasn't been seen in public since his bizarre and highly controversial press conference. Some claim he's suffering from posttraumatic stress and has been bedridden for weeks. Whatever the case may be, no one expects an appearance from him tonight."_

"Estimated completion time for commenced automated assembly is five hours," Jarvis informed Tony as the man stared at the news report in irritation. He didn't need people thinking he'd been stuck in bed over the last few weeks.

"Who wants to crash a party?" Tony questioned, looking straight at Leo and knowing exactly what his response would be.

"Me!" Leo exclaimed with a grin, jumping straight to his feet.

Tony and Leo arrived at the party in double time, Tony driving his Audi at speeds Pepper wouldn't approve of. The father and son duo got out of the car, both dressed in smart black suits, and Tony handed his keys over to the nearest valet. Tony joined Leo on the sidewalk, putting an arm around his son before leading him onto the busy red carpet. Cameras immediately started clicking and surprised shouts of "it's Tony Stark!" was all Leo could hear for the first few seconds. After brief encounters with various people on the red carpet, Tony found Obadiah stood talking to a reporter with an audio recording device.

"What's the world coming to when a guy's got to crash his own party?" Tony questioned receiving what Leo thought of as a nervous laugh from Obadiah.

"Look at you! Hey, what a surprise," Obadiah responded once he'd stopped laughing.

"I'll see you inside," Tony replied, making a move past him.

Obadiah put a hand on Tony's shoulder to stop him from moving any further. He leaned forwards, getting closer to Tony so not to be overheard, "Hey. Listen, take it slow, all right? I think I got the board right where we want them."

"You got it. Just cabin fever. I'll just be a minute," Tony responded, succeeding this time in walking away from Obadiah and getting into the building. "Let's go get a drink," he suggested to Leo upon immediately spotting the bar.

Leo followed Tony to the bar, realising immediately that this wasn't the sort of party he was going to be interested in. The room was filled with adults, no other children in sight, and slow, boring music filled the room.

"An apple juice for the boy," Tony ordered once he reached the bar, getting out some money to pay. "And get me a scotch. I'm starving."

"Mr Stark?" Leo's head immediately jerked to the left when he heard the familiar voice. Standing right next to them, leaning against the bar, was the agent he and Pepper had met at the press conference.

"Agent Coulson!" Leo remembered, waving at the man who gave him a small smile in return.

There was a look of confusion on Tony's face as he wondered how the two knew each other, before he remembered Pepper telling him about the agent she'd briefly spoken to at the press conference. "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. The guy from the…" Tony paused, not remembering where Pepper had said the agent was from. It was long, he remembered that much, as he took the drinks from the bartender and handed Leo his apple juice.

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division," Coulson finished his sentence for him, the name naturally rolling off his tongue. Leo wondered just how often he said the name.

"God, you need a new name for that," Tony commented before taking a sip of his scotch.

"Yeah, I hear that a lot," Coulson admitted, and neither Tony nor Leo were surprised to hear that. "Listen, I know this must be a trying time for you, but we need to debrief you. There's still a lot of unanswered questions and time can be a factor with these things. Let's just put something on the books. How about the twenty-fourth at seven pm at Stark Industries?" Coulson suggested.

Tony wasn't looking at Coulson, instead staring into the crowd of people at the party. "Tell you what. You got it. You're absolutely right," Tony replied, determined to end the conversation as he held his hand out to make a deal. Coulson shook his hand. "Well, I'm going to go to my assistant, and we'll make a date," Tony told him, pointing out Pepper in the crowd of people wearing the long blue dress Leo had seen her in earlier that night. "Do me a favour and watch the kid." Tony didn't wait for Coulson's response, walking away in the direction of Pepper and leaving Coulson standing beside an excitable eight-year-old.

Leo climbed on to one of the bar stools, making himself comfortable. He had a feeling he wasn't going to be leaving the party any time soon. "Are you a spy?" He asked, watching Coulson carefully as if he expected the man to suddenly vanish.

"Aren't spies supposed to keep that secret?" Coulson did that annoying thing where he responded to a question with a question.

"I guess," Leo agreed. "But you can tell me. I'm good at keeping secrets," Leo told him matter-of-factly.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Coulson challenged.

Leo burst out into laughter, shaking his head. "Nu-uh," he said as he laughed, "You won't get me that easily."

"Very good," Coulson praised with a smile. "Are you a spy-in-training?"

Leo leaned closer to Coulson, as if he was about to reveal super-secret information. "That would be telling," he whispered before laughing again.

When Tony left Leo and Coulson behind, he walked straight to Pepper. She had her back to him, unaware of his presence. "You look fantastic! I didn't recognise you," Tony spoke up, causing Pepper to spin around and face him.

"What are you doing here?" Pepper asked, sounding surprised. Tony couldn't blame her, after all the news report had said no one expected his attendance.

"Just avoiding government agents," Tony replied casually as if it were a day-to-day thing to do. As he spoke, he indicated towards the bar and Pepper looked over, recognising Agent Coulson and watching his interaction with Leo who was laughing away.

"And you brought Leo," Pepper commented upon spotting him. "You do realise this isn't a child-orientated event?"

"Would you have preferred it if I had left him home alone?" Tony challenged. "You have seen the movie _Home Alone_, haven't you?"

"There's the option of a babysitter," Pepper responded.

"I got a babysitter! The Agent. And he's free!" Tony retorted, then frowned. "At least, I think he is. We didn't really discuss money. Or anything, for that matter. Anyway, where'd you get that dress?" Tony asked, moving the conversation on.

Meanwhile, Leo was having lots of fun with Agent Coulson who he managed to convince to buy him another apple juice. Leo sipped his drink as he watched Coulson stare in his dad and Pepper's direction. Leo wasn't particularly surprised to see them dancing together. "He won't be back for a while," Leo informed Coulson. "You don't have to stay here with me. I can look after myself."

"You think so?" Coulson asked amused, giving Leo a side glance.

"Yeah. I've watched all the spy films. I know how to protect myself," Leo informed the agent, full of confidence in his self-defence ability.

"Watching and doing are two very different things," Coulson told him.

"Perhaps," Leo agreed before falling silent, appearing to be finished with that topic of conversation. "Err… Agent Coulson?" He spoke up hesitantly after a few minutes of silence in which Coulson had watched Tony and Pepper disappear outside.

"Yes Leo?" Coulson replied, turning to face the young boy properly since he could no longer watch what Stark was up to.

"You know… how we were talking… about keeping secrets?" Leo continued hesitantly, throwing Coulson off slightly. He didn't know the young Stark boy particularly well but the few times he'd seen him, the boy had been full of confidence. "I think… maybe… there's a secret I should tell you. It's- it's about my Dad."

"You can tell me," Coulson assured Leo.

Leo looked around, looking concerned that they might be overheard. He jerked his head back slightly, beckoning for Coulson to move closer so that he could whisper.

Fully intrigued as to the boy's secret about Stark and whether it had any relevance to the method of Stark's escape from captivity, Coulson leaned in closer, eye-to-eye with Leo. Coulson then experienced a split second of confusion as Leo concerned expression suddenly disappeared, replaced instead by a smirk. The next thing Coulson knew, Leo's forehead had collided with his nose, pain shooting through it and blood trickling out of his nose.

Leo groaned as he held his forehead. Headbutting someone was more painful than he had expected. "Told you I could defend myself," he murmured as he opened his eyes to see blood pouring out of the agent's nose. Leo immediately jumped up from his chair as Coulson reached for a napkin from the bar. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't aiming for your nose. I wanted to show you I could do the things on the movies."

It was at this moment that Tony returned to the bar, looking at Coulson in confusion. "What happened here?" Tony questioned.

"Your son happened," Coulson answered and Leo sighed in relief when Coulson smiled slightly. "I wouldn't be surprised if he became an agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division when he's older."

"Not if I have to say Strategic Homeland whatever, every time," Leo retorted, a huge grin on his face at the idea of being an agent.

"I'm going to go get cleaned up," Coulson said before walking off.

Tony caught the attention of the bartender as he took some money out of his pocket. "Two vodka martinis, extra dry, extra olives, extra fast. Make one of them dirty, will you?" He ordered as he placed the money on the bar. As the bartender went to make the drinks, Tony turned his attention to Leo who had returned to sitting on the barstool. "So how did Agent Coulson end up injured?" He asked.

Leo opened his mouth to explain but was interrupted by a blonde woman who approached them. "Wow. Tony Stark," the woman spoke. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Oh hey," Tony greeted in response. Leo noted he didn't sound overly enthusiastic about the woman's presence. "Carrie?" Tony questioned uncertainly.

"Christine," the woman corrected instantly. "You've got a lot of nerve showing up here tonight. Can I at least get a reaction from you?"

"Panic. I would say panic is my reaction," Tony answered, showing very little interest in having a conversation with the woman.

"Because I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity," Christine expanded upon. Leo found himself, once again, not really following the conversation.

"Yeah. They just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you," Tony responded dismissively.

"I actually almost bought it. Hook, line and sinker," Christine replied in disbelief.

"I was out of town for a couple months, in case you didn't hear," Tony reminded her.

Leo didn't understand what caused the sudden irritation, but Christine's voice was louder when she spoke again. "Is this what you call accountability?" She challenged, passing some photos over to Tony. "It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?"

Tony held Christine's stare for a moment before his focus dropped down to the pictures in his hand. Pictures of Yinsen's town. He flicked through the pictures quickly, Leo looking at them over his shoulder. It was a war-stricken town, half-destroyed and the bad guys armed with weapons, including the Jericho, complete with the Stark name. "When were these taken?" Tony asked, voice deeply serious.

"Yesterday."

"I didn't approve any shipment," Tony told her.

"Well your company did," Christine retorted.

"Well, I'm not my company," Tony informed her. "Leo! With me," Tony ordered, walking away from the bar with purpose, leaving the two vodka martinis he had ordered behind. Leo jumped down from the bar stool he was sat on and hurried after his dad who was walking with great pace and purpose.

"Where are we going?" Leo attempted to find out what was going on but received no response from Tony who was staring ahead of them. He burst through the doors of the building and out on to the red carpet, strolling straight up to Obadiah, glaring at the older man as he held the pictures out for him to see.

"Have you seen these pictures?" Tony demanded an answer as Obadiah hurried to move the cameras away. "What's going on in Gulmira?" Tony questioned as Obadiah put a hand on his shoulder and guided him away from the gathered reporters.

"Tony, Tony. You can't afford to be this naïve," Obadiah insisted, glancing around to ensure that they were out of earshot of the reporters.

"You know what? I was naïve before, when they said; here's the line. We don't cross it. This is how we do business," Tony hissed at him. "If we're double-dealing under the table… are we?" Tony challenged, demanding answers. Leo watched, utterly confused as Obadiah and Tony held each other's stare. He could feel the anger and the tension but couldn't follow where it was all coming from.

The silence and stare continued for a minute until Obadiah spontaneously broke it. "Let's take a picture," he decided cheerfully, as if nothing had happened. "Come on. Picture time!" He announced, guiding Tony around to face the cameras. "You too, Leo," Obadiah added, placing his other hand on Leo's shoulder and pulling the young boy next to him. As the three posed for pictures, Obadiah leaned ever so slightly closer to Tony. "Tony. Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filled the injunction against you," Obadiah informed Tony. Leo pulled away from Obadiah and turned to look at him in shock when he heard that. Finally, something he understood had come out of Obadiah's mouth though he couldn't really believe what he'd heard. Leo had never really liked the guy, Obadiah had never shown much care for Leo, but Leo never would have expected such a turn of events. "It was the only way I could protect you," Obadiah explained before walking off, leaving Leo staring at his dad, wondering just what he planned to do next.


	6. Training Exercise

**Chapter Six: Training Exercise**

The next day, Leo sat at the kitchen table eating his lunch. Pepper had tried to encourage Tony to come up from downstairs for food but he had insisted that he wasn't hungry. Leo was starting to wish that they hadn't crashed the party. It hadn't been as fun as he had been expecting and, ever since his dad's stare down with Obadiah, his dad had been in a mood. That wasn't fun either.

Leo poked at the food on his plate, as disinterested in eating as he was with watching the news on the television screen. Pepper always had the news on and Leo didn't understand why she was so interested in it. The news was boring compared to his action-based spy movies.

With the report on recycling and pollution ending, Leo hoped that the news programme was coming to an end. He sighed as yet another report started; "_The fifteen mile hike to the outskirts of Gulmira…" _At the mention of the town, Leo's head jerked up, suddenly interested in the news, "_can only be described as a descent into hell, into a modern day Heart of Darkness."_

Pepper reached for the remote control, thinking the report might be a bit dark for an eight-year-old, especially considering the fact that his father had been stuck in captivity over there for three months. "Let's put one of your spy movies on," Pepper suggested.

"No!" Leo snapped, grabbing the remote control off the table before Pepper could get to it. He cleared his throat, "I mean, you like the news. I'll let you watch it."

Pepper stared in disbelief, unable to comprehend that Leo had agreed to sacrifice one of his beloved spy movies for the news which he constantly complained about. To make it even more unbelievable, Leo was showing a genuine interest in the report, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"_Simple farmers and herders from peaceful villages have been driven from their homes, displaced from their lands by warlords emboldened by a new-found power. Villagers have been forced to take shelter in whatever crude dwellings they can find in the ruins of other villages, or here in the remnants of an old Soviet smelting plant. Recent violence has been attributed to a group of foreign fighters referred to by locals as the Ten Rings. As you can see, these men are heavily armed and on a mission. A mission that could prove fatal to anyone who stands in their way. With no political will or international pressure, there's very little hope for these refugees. _

_Around me, a woman begging for news on her husband, who was kidnapped by insurgents either forced to join their…"_

A sudden and loud crashing noise from downstairs momentarily distracted Leo and Pepper from the news report. Leo presumed his dad was tinkering with the suit again. "Did you hear that?" Pepper asked, unsure whether she had heard the noise or imagined it.

"Hear what?" Leo questioned innocently. If his dad was tinkering with the suit, it was probably best to keep Pepper from heading down there. She didn't seem particularly impressed, after all, when she'd seen his dad working on the first flight stabiliser hand. Leo returned his focus to the news report.

"_Desperate refugees clutch yellowed photographs, holding them up to anyone who will stop. A child's simple question, "Where are my mother and father?". There's very little hope for these refuges, refugees who can only wonder who, if anyone, will help."_

As the news report ended, three quick consecutive crashes sounded from downstairs. Leo couldn't deny hearing those. "I'll go see what he's doing," Leo told Pepper as she went to stand up to investigate. "It's probably nothing. Don't let it distract you from your work. I'll come get you if it's serious," Leo told her, breathing out a sigh of relief when Pepper sat back down. He ran out of the kitchen, heading straight for the steps that led downstairs.

When he got to the bottom of the steps, Leo was surprised to see glass covered the floor. All three glass windows had been broken. Not bothering with the code on the door, Leo carefully stepped through the window frame. He was met by the sight of his dad being put into the suit. Leo smiled, confident that he knew exactly what his dad was planning. "Gulmira?" He questioned.

"Gulmira." Tony confirmed as the helmet clamped down over his face.

"I'll be on coms!" Leo called excitedly as he ran to the workstation, grabbing the earpiece and placing it in his ear. He picked the tablet up from the desk as his dad flew out of the garage. "Jarvis! Vision cam," Leo instructed.

Tony's flight to Gulmira didn't take long at all with the speed at which the Mark Two could fly. Leo watched, fascinated as his dad dropped from the sky, landing on one foot and one knee in front of the Ten Rings terrorist group who were terrorising families. "Yeah! Hero pose!" Leo exclaimed, not quite understanding the danger of the situation his dad had just dropped into the middle of. In the next sixty seconds, Leo watched in amazement as Tony engaged and defeated all of the terrorists, including the ring leader.

"He's all yours," Tony told the families before flying away, leaving the ring leader to the mercy of the families he had been terrorising.

"Yeah! Great job Dad!" Leo cheered as he watched Tony locate the Jericho missile the terrorists had gotten their hands on.

"I don't think that belongs to them," Tony commented as he prepared to blow it to pieces.

Before Leo could think of a response, he watched on the screen as his dad suddenly plummeted to the ground. "Dad!" Leo called out in concern.

"I'm fine," Tony assured Leo, pushing himself off the ground and back onto his feet, staring down the road at the tank which had just knocked him out of the sky. The tank fired again in an attempt to complete the job. Tony dodged the shot, firing one of his own back. As Tony walked away towards the Jericho missile, the tank behind him blew up. The terrorists wouldn't give up, continuing to fire bullets at him. The suit was designed to be bulletproof, and Tony was glad to see that it was, in fact, bulletproof; realising he probably should have tested it properly before getting himself into such a situation. Ignoring the bullets hitting against his suit, Tony flew into the air and sent a repulser blast at the Jericho missile. The Jericho blew up, injuring and quite likely killing the terrorists in the explosion.

"Mission accomplished!" Leo called out through the coms, a huge grin on his face as he said those words. "I've always wanted to say that!"

"How good was that? The suit works perfectly," Tony reported ecstatically.

"You were like a proper super hero!" Leo exclaimed. "That was so cool. You're like the new Captain America!"

Tony scoffed. He'd always resented that guy. Despite dying long before Tony was born, the Captain still had more of his dad's attention than Tony ever got. "Better than Captain America," Tony corrected.

"Of course!" Leo agreed instantly. "Captain America couldn't fly and he didn't have built-in weapons. And you took out all those guys in like, a minute. It was incredible!"

Tony and Leo's excited conversation continued as Tony made his way back towards California. Their conversation, however, was interrupted by Tony's phone ringing. "Hello," Tony answered the ringing phone immediately.

"Tony," Rhodey greeted from the other end of the phone call.

"Rhodey! Hi!" Leo greeted from his end.

"Hi Leo! Why am I on speakerphone? What is that noise?" Rhodey questioned, obviously hearing the same loud whooshing noises that Leo could hear on his end.

"I'm driving with the top down," Tony explained, thinking up an excuse very quickly.

"Yeah, well, I need your help right now," Rhodey told him.

"It's funny how that works, huh?" Tony replied sarcastically and Leo was left, once again, trying to figure out what the adults were going on about.

"Yeah. Speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive," Rhodey informed Tony. Leo was interested to hear Tony's excuse for that one.

"Well, that's a hot spot," Tony replied dismissively. "Sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you huh?"

Rhodey didn't bother responding to that jab. "Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?" Rhodey challenged.

"I'm not. I was just jogging in the canyon," Tony replied with yet another excuse. Leo groaned; maybe his dad wouldn't make a good spy, after all, if he couldn't keep his story straight.

"I thought you were driving," Rhodey responded, crushing Leo's hopes that the Colonel hadn't picked up on Tony's mistake.

"Right. I was driving," Tony confirmed as he remembered his previous excuse, "to the canyon, where I'm going to jog."

Leo groaned again as Tony's new excuse didn't explain why he was out of breath at pleasant. Luckily, Rhodey seemed to accept it, "You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?"

"Nope!" Tony replied instantly.

"Okay, good, because I'm staring at one right now, and it's about to be blown to kingdom come," Rhodey told him.

"That's my exit!" Tony announced before ending the call with Rhodey. Over the coms, Leo could hear approaching planes.

"This doesn't sound good," Leo commented, eyes fixed on the screen in his hands once again.

"You _think_!_" _Tony exclaimed sarcastically, sounding a bit worried which did nothing to fill Leo with confidence.

"Go faster!" Leo encouraged, on the edge of his seat as he gripped tightly onto the tablet in his hands.

"Jarvis. Supersonic. Hit it!" Tony instructed the AI. The suit suddenly increased in speed, bolting away from the two jets behind Tony.

"Inbound missile," Jarvis informed Tony suddenly.

"Flares!" Tony instructed immediately, sending the flares out to deceive the missile. The explosion of the missile just behind him caused Tony to lose control of the suit momentarily, dropping a few feet in the air. By the time he had the suit back under control, the two jets were hot on his tail.

"Be careful," Leo instructed as the jets started firing at the suit.

"Real helpful advice, Leo, thanks for that," Tony commented sarcastically in response. Leo noted how Tony liked to get sarcastic when stressed and under pressure. "Release flaps," Tony instructed the suit. On the screen, Leo watched as the suit flew backwards past the two jets behind it. Tony quickly manoeuvred the suit to grip onto the bottom of one of the jets. "Call Rhodey now!"

"Hello?" Leo once again heard Rhodey's voice over the coms.

"Hi, Rhodey, it's me," Tony admitted somewhat reluctantly but he figured he was going to need Rhodey's help to get out of this one.

"It's who?" Rhodey questioned, not entirely clear about what Tony was saying.

"I'm sorry, it is me," Tony admitted again before providing further explanation, "You asked. What you were asking about is me."

"No, see, this isn't a game," Rhodey replied, sounding irritated. "You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. You understand that?"

"He didn't," Leo piped up.

"What? He just said he did," Rhodey responded, sounding more confused than irritated following Leo's contribution.

"It's not a piece of equipment. I'm in it. It's a suit. It's me!" Tony explained, yelling down the phone hoping to clear up exactly what was happening. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold onto the bottom of the plane for.

Suddenly, the jet he was gripping on to must have realised his presence for it started trying to shake him off. The jet rolled twice in a row, causing Tony to lose his grip on the bottom of the plane. He was sent flying backwards, hitting and destroying the wing of the second jet before he regained control. Tony sighed in relief when he spotted the pilot eject out of the jet moments before the jet blew to pieces. Panic returned, however, when he noticed the lack of a parachute from the chair. Tony chased after the plummeting chair. He wasn't about to let someone die because of him. "You've been reengaged," Jarvis told him exactly what he didn't want to hear, "Execute evasive manoeuvre."

"Keep going!" Tony insisted, his focus entirely on saving the life of the pilot below him. Finally, he got to the chair and punched the jammed parachute, causing it to open. He made a point to get out of the area very quickly after that.

"Tony? Leo? You guys still there?" Rhodey asked, returning his attention to the phone call once the drama died down.

"Yep," Leo confirmed.

"Hey, thanks," Tony spoke up, sounding breathless.

"Oh, my god, you crazy son of a bitch," Rhodey breathed out in relief.

"Hey, the kid's listening!" Tony replied immediately.

Leo laughed, "It's nothing I haven't heard you say."

"Please don't tell me the kid is up there with you," Rhodey said, suddenly realising what Tony had gotten his young son involved in.

"How irresponsible do you think I am?" Tony retorted, feigning hurt.

"I'm at home. Safe and sound," Leo explained. "Nothing's going to happen to me."

"Tony, you owe me a plane. You know that, right?" Rhodey informed the billionaire.

Tony laughed at that statement. "Yeah, well technically, he hit me," Tony pointed out, taking no liability for what had happened. "Now are you going to come by and see what I'm working on?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, the less I know, the better," Rhodey decisively turned down the offer. "Now what am I supposed to tell the press?"

"Training exercise," Tony suggested immediately, "Isn't that the usual BS?"

Rhodey didn't sound convinced, "It's not that simple."

For the second time in just two days, Leo found himself greatly interested and invested in a news report. As Tony returned into the garage from another trip out in his suit, Leo was sat at his desk, watching the news channel on Tony's many computer screens. Leo decided it was much more fun to watch the news when he knew the person on it, and knew the exact details of what they were talking about.

"_An unfortunate training exercise." _Rhodey was saying on the news, "_involving an F-22 Raptor occurred yesterday. I am pleased to report that the pilot was not injured. As for the unexpected turn of events on the ground in Gulmira, it is still unclear who or what intervened, but I can assure you that the United States government was not involved."_

With the news report ending, Leo pressed the necessary buttons on Tony's confusing keyboard to turn it off. "Apparently training exercise is simple enough," Leo commented as he turned to watch in amusement as Tony and the robots struggled to remove the suit. It was one of the only faults that Tony had yet to fix regarding the suit.

"Hey! Ow!" Tony complained as he was poked and prodded in an attempt to remove the suit. He really had to work on speeding up the suiting up and suit removal processes, particularly the latter.

"It is a tight fit, sir," Jarvis commented helpfully, as if he thought it would be news to Tony. "Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt."

"Be gentle," Tony instructed, fed up with all the poking and prodding. "I designed this to come off so, ow! Hey!"

"Please try not to move, sir," Jarvis requested.

By this point, Leo was beside himself with laughter. "I don't think Captain America had this problem," Leo managed to say in between laughing, earning him a playful glare from Tony.

"What's going on here?" Pepper's sudden voice made both of the Stark's freeze and Leo instantly stopped laughing. With all the noise, Pepper had managed to get considerably far into the room before making them aware of her presence.

Leo looked at Tony, unsure how his dad wanted to play this one. "Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing," Tony joked in an attempt to lighten to suddenly tense mood.

Pepper didn't see the amusing side of it. "Are those bullet holes?" She asked in disbelief.

"More like bullet dents," Leo spoke up to correct her. "The suit is bulletproof. The bullets won't have gone all the way through so… no holes," he finished slowly, realising he wasn't helping.

"The enemies had Stark weapons. I couldn't sit back and let them use them to kill Americans any longer," Tony explained. Wordlessly, Pepper turned around and walked back upstairs. Leo stared after her before glancing at Tony, unsure of what they should do next. "She'll come around," Tony assured him before returning to the task of getting out of the suit.


	7. Legacy

**Chapter Seven: Legacy**

"Okay, Leo," Tony grunted that evening as he worked on perfecting the top half of the suit, "Can you remember the mnemonic I taught you for because?"

"Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants!" Leo answered confidently and triumphantly from where he was sat at Tony's computer.

"Good," Tony grinned at him. "Now spell because."

"B…E…C…A…U…S…E," Leo spelled out slowly, clearly going through the mnemonic in his head before saying each letter.

"You got it! Nice one, Leo," Tony praised him as Pepper slowly ventured into the room. This time, however, Tony was aware of her entrance. "Hey," Tony smiled at her as he stood up, moving away from the suit to stand at a nearby workstation, opposite Pepper. "You busy? You mind if I send you on an errand? I need you to go to my office. You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests." Tony picked up a device which looked closely similar to a USB device off the workstation and held it out for Pepper to take. "This is a lock chip," he told her as she took it from him. "This'll get you in. It's probably under Executive Files. If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading," Tony explained to her.

"Hacking into computers," Leo grinned, getting excited again as Pepper stared at the device in her hands. "It's just like the spy films!"

"Leo, go and get your dad a coffee," Pepper instructed, speaking for the first time since she had entered the room.

Leo glanced at his dad uncertainly before turning to Pepper, confused, "I'm not allowed to touch the coffee machine."

"I'm giving you permission just this once. Be sensible. Be careful. Don't burn yourself," Pepper instructed. Leo nodded, running for the stairs to get up to the kitchen. "And don't even think about running whilst carrying coffee," Pepper added before he left. Pepper waited until Leo was clear of the top of the stairs before turning back to Tony to continue their conversation. "And what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?" She questioned him.

"Same drill," Tony told her honestly. No more secrets. "they've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."

"Tony," Pepper started but paused as she tried to work out how to word what she wanted to say, "You know that I would help you with anything but I can not help if you're going to start all of this again."

"There is _nothing _except this," Tony insisted passionately. "There's _no _art opening. There is _no _benefit. There is _nothing _to sign. There is the next mission and nothing else."

"Is that so?" Pepper questioned, not bothering to hide the disappointment in her voice. "Well, then, I quit." She chucked the device back onto the workstation and walked towards the door.

Tony stared after her, not about to let her leave that easily, "You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction. And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out."

Pepper turned around, facing up to him. "You're going to make enemies doing this. It's going to put the people you care for in harm's way. You've already got Leo caught up in all this. You're going to get him killed. You're going to kill yourself, Tony. I'm not going to be a part of it."

Tony took a seat in the nearest chair to him, looking somewhat defeated. "I shouldn't be alive, unless it was for a reason," he told her. He should have died from the shrapnel. After all, the weapon had been designed to kill. He had to believe there was a reason he survived it. "I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do." There was a long pause as they stared at each other, contemplating each other's arguments. "And I know in my heart that it's right."

Pepper stared at him before sighing, giving in and walking back over to the workstation. She picked the device back up and looked at it in her hands before looking up at Tony. "You, and Leo, are all I have too, you know," she told him meaningfully before walking away, taking the device with her.

Leo sat downstairs at one of the workstations, doing some of his Math homework. He liked Math: numbers came to him so much easier that letters. He was flying through it, listening to music through his earphones as he worked. He glanced across the room to see his dad, once again, working on his suit. Only, he looked preoccupied and concerned, continually checking the clock. Leo pulled his earphones out, spinning around on the office chair to face his dad. "You okay, Dad?"

"It shouldn't be taking Pepper this long to get the files," Tony answered. All of a sudden, he had a very bad feeling which was interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing from upstairs. "Wait here," he instructed Leo. Maybe he was being paranoid but he had an eerie feeling that Leo would be much safer remaining downstairs.

Leo nodded and gulped as he watched his dad disappear up the steps. He too shared the feeling that something wasn't right. A minute or so after his dad had disappeared upstairs, Leo could have sworn he heard more footsteps up there. Adamant that they were expecting any visitors, Leo was sure that something was wrong. Taking a deep breath, Leo slowly and quietly crept up the stairs.

"It's a shame the government didn't approve it," Leo could overhear the conversation once he'd stopped halfway up the steps, crouching down to avoid being seen. He frowned, recognising the voice immediately: Obadiah Stane. "There's so many applications for causing short-term paralysis," Obadiah continued and Leo slowly and carefully pulled himself up so that his head was poking above the wall, allowing him to see what was going on. Tony was slumped on the couch, not moving, the veins on his face dark blue and highly visible. Obadiah was stood behind the couch, leaning over Tony and holding a device in his hand. Leo could only assume it was the device that Obadiah had used to stop his dad from being able to move.

It was situations like this that Leo had used in his many arguments with Pepper regarding why he needed his own mobile phone. Pepper had argued that such situations were childish fantasy and never going to happen. Leo made a note to use this entire scenario as a counter-argument. Leo placed his hand in his pocket, gripping the coms device he'd stashed in there and praying the phone would ring. If someone called, he could use the device to answer it and ask for help. Unless he received a call, Leo had no way of calling for help.

Leo watched as Obadiah walked around the couch, moving to stand in front of Tony. Leo felt more confident with Obadiah standing there. It meant the man had his back to him. Not only did that make Obadiah less likely to spot him but it would give Leo the opportunity to sneak up on him from behind when the time seemed right. "Oh, Tony," Obadiah started as he pulled some earbuds out of his ears. Leo smiled; that meant Obadiah wouldn't be prepared to use the device in his hand when Leo surprised him. "When I ordered the hit on you, I worried that I was killing the golden goose," Obadiah was telling Tony as he picked up a contraption from his briefcase. The thing looked scary and it was only when Obadiah placed it on Tony's chest, against his arc reactor, that Leo realised what the contraption was for. Leo's eyes widened. He had to move fast.

Leo stood up, scrambling up the remaining steps and running at Obadiah's back. Apparently, he didn't have as much stealth as the spies in the movies he watched for Obadiah turned in time, swiping his arm out and sending Leo flying through the air. Leo landed hard on the floor, whacking his head off the steps which lead up to the area in which the piano had sat prior to Tony destroying it. Leo groaned, feeling sick as his head throbbed in pain and blood dripped down his face. Obadiah walked over and grabbed a fistful of Leo's shirt, lifting him up. "Oops," he simply said as he inspected the gash on Leo's forehead. "Then again, it might knock some knowledge into the boy," Obadiah commented, turning back to look at Tony. "He doesn't exactly have the Stark intelligence trait, does he? Are you sure his mother didn't lie to you?" Obadiah questioned as he dropped the now unconscious Leo onto the couch beside Tony.

"Right. Back to business," Obadiah said to get himself back on track as he picked up the contraption once again. "Where was I? That's right, killing the golden goose," Obadiah said as he placed the contraption back on Tony's chest. "You see, I think it was fate that you survived that," he told Tony as he pushed the device down and turned it. Tony gasped out in pain as Obadiah pulled the arc reactor out of his chest, it only remained linked to Tony through the wires coming out of Tony's chest.

"You had one last golden egg to give. Do you really think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you?" Obadiah questioned. "Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of a world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?" With that question posed, Obadiah yanked the wires out of Tony's chest, allowing Obadiah to hold the miniaturised arc reactor in his hand. "Oh, it's beautiful," Obadiah commented as he inspected in closely.

"Tony, this is your Ninth Symphony. What a masterpiece. Look at that. This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at its heart. Weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power in our hands. The right hands," Obadiah monologued as he carefully placed the arc reactor into a case. "I wish you could've seen my prototype. It not as… well, not as conservative as yours. Too bad you had to involve Pepper in this. I would have preferred that she lived," Obadiah said casually as he stood up, case in hand. "As for the boy," Obadiah added as he picked Leo up again, "I'll take him with me. Just in case any of your friends decides to play the hero." With that, Obadiah left, the case in one hand and Leo slumped over his other shoulder, leaving Tony paralysed on the couch behind him.

Colonel James Rhodes was driving home from work, a nice relaxing evening of sitting in front of the television and doing nothing planned for when he got home. When his phone started ringing, he half considered ignoring it until a side glance showed Pepper's contact ID on the screen. Knowing Tony and of his recent project, he wouldn't be surprised if the man had gotten himself into some kind of trouble. Answering the phone, however, he wasn't expecting to hear quite as much trouble as he did. Pepper informed him of everything that she knew by spurting all the information down the phone at him in one breath. Rhodey struggled to keep up with what she was saying. "Pepper, slow down. Why would Obadiah…?" Rhodey began to ask but was cut off by Pepper continuing to spurt information down the phone. "Okay, where's Tony now?" Rhodey asked her. He had to get to him, quickly.

"I don't know. He's not answering his phone," Pepper answered Rhodey, talking to him on the phone as she left the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division's headquarters, backed up with a number of agents including Coulson with the aim to find Obadiah. "Please go over there and make sure everything's okay," Pepper asked Rhodey as she reached the car she and Coulson would be travelling in.

Rhodey took a sharp right in his own car as he suddenly changed his destination from his own home to Tony's. "I'm on my way," he told Pepper.

"Thank you, Rhodey," Pepper thanked him before hanging up the phone.

Rhodey put his foot down on the gas pedal. If he got done for speeding, he'd make Tony pay the fine for him.


	8. Mistakes

**Chapter Eight: Mistakes**

Leo groaned as he regained consciousness, his head still pounding with pain. He frowned as he forced his eyes open, not recognising where he was. It was dark and poorly lit, but it reminded Leo of some kind of basement. He was slouched against a wall, his right arm feeling awkward behind his back. He looked around to see handcuffs on his right wrist ensuring he stayed bound to a steel rod on the wall behind him.

"Oh, you're up," Obadiah's sudden voice made Leo jump. He spun his head around to see Obadiah stood ahead of him, further into the room, his face lit up by the arc reactor he held in his hand. The one Leo knew had, until recently, been in his dad's chest. "Just in time," Obadiah grinned insanely as he turned with the arc reactor.

The light from the arc reactor lit up a section of the room which Leo hadn't seen until Obadiah had moved. A huge suit, similar in appearance to his dad's original suit, hung suspended from the ceiling. Obadiah smiled as he pushed the arc reactor into the chest piece of his suit. "Your dad wanted to keep this power to himself," Obadiah stated as he stepped back to view his completed masterpiece. "Not anymore. I've got the power now."

Leo knew that, whatever happened, he couldn't let Obadiah get into that suit. There were lots of innocent people outside and Obadiah seemed to no longer care about hurting innocent people. He just hoped someone, anyone, was on their way to put a stop to Obadiah's plans. Until then, Leo would have to try to distract the man for as long as possible. Which meant employing the same techniques he'd seen in his spy movies.

As Obadiah made a move towards his suit, Leo burst into manic laughter whilst his left hand reached behind his back to pull at a loose nail he'd seen in the wall behind him. Obadiah hesitated, slowly turning to face Leo, a look of confusion on his face. "No, no, no," Leo shook his head and waved his left hand dismissively as he laughed. "Don't let me stop you. Go ahead! Get in! Blow yourself up! It'll save everyone the job of stopping you."

Obadiah just stared at him, lost for words and he tried to figure out what was going on.

Leo stopped laughing to gasp dramatically before bursting into more laughter. "You don't even realise your mistake!" He exclaimed in amusement as the nail fell out of the wall as straight into his palm. He clenched his left fist before slowly returning it to his side.

"There is _no _mistake," Obadiah replied through gritted teeth, irritation purely visible. He'd been working on the suit for days, double-checking everything he did and now an eight-year-old boy was telling him something was wrong.

Leo stopped laughing. "If you're so sure, go ahead. Get in," Leo challenged, voice suddenly full of a strange sincerity for such a young child. "Don't let me stop you." Obadiah faltered, appearing unsure of whether to head towards the suit or towards Leo. "The problem is staring you right in the face and you can't even see it!" Leo grinned before starting another burst of laughter.

Full of irritation, Obadiah marched towards Leo. Determined to make it clear to the man that he wasn't scared of him, Leo rose to his feet, sliding the handcuff up the vertical rod that he was bound to. "Oh, look at little Leo Stark, playing hero just like his dad," Obadiah commented at Leo's actions.

"He's a better man than you," Leo spoke in response, keeping his left hand firmly clenched.

"Have you forgotten the first seven years of your life?" Obadiah retorted. Leo presumed it was an attempt to rile him up which was exactly what he was trying to do to Obadiah.

"Everyone makes mistakes," Leo responded casually, aiming to irritate Obadiah further by not rising to his taunts.

"You should be thanking me!" Obadiah roared in frustration. Leo only raised an eyebrow in response, instantly regretting that decision as it triggered more pain to pound through his head. "Ever since he got back from Afghanistan he has actually paid attention to you. That's because of me."

"_Actually,_" Leo started, his tone informative and matter-of-fact, "Your plan was to kill him. But he came home. Your plan failed. But, like I said, everyone makes mistakes. Though, you've made a ton of mistakes," Leo grinned as he starting laughing again. "Including one right in front of your face that you just can't see!"

Obadiah was more than fed up with the boy. In an attempt to intimidate him and shut him up, he strode straight up to the boy, towering over him for a moment before crouching down to his level. Obadiah and Leo, on the same level, stared at each other; face-to-face, locked on to each others eyes. Which was exactly where Leo had wanted the man the entire time. Obadiah faced a moment of confusion as a smirk appeared across Leo's face. In a swift movement, Leo gripped the nail in his hand between his thumb and forefinger and thrashed out at Obadiah, slicing across his face.

The man reared back suddenly, his hand going straight to his eye. Leo had hoped the pain would distract the man for a while but within a minute, the man had recovered, standing tall above the boy and ignoring the blood dripping from the gash across his right eye. Leo gulped as Obadiah marched towards him again. Leo swung his left hand out again in an attempt to catch Obadiah with the nail once more. His hand was stopped in mid-air as Obadiah grabbed the boy's wrist, using his own strength to overpower Leo. Obadiah's other hand ripped the nail out of Leo's hand. He then pushed the eight-year-old up against the wall behind him, holding the nail threateningly close to Leo's own eye. "What's the saying? Oh yeah, an eye for an eye," Obadiah growled as Leo gasped for breath, preparing himself for the coming pain.

The noise of the door exploding as it was forced open suddenly filled the room. Leo let out a nervous laugh. "That mistake, staring you in this face this whole time? It was letting yourself get distracted. By _me._"

Fully aware that they were no longer alone in the room, Obadiah dropped Leo, running to get to his suit and put it on in time. Leo leaned back against the wall behind him, closing his eyes in utter relief. That had almost gone badly wrong. Talk about a last minute rescue!

Leo had no idea who his rescuers actually were but as far as he was concerned, no one could be worse than Obadiah… right? "It looks like you were right. He was building a suit," he heard a voice say from nearby. Leo's eyes widened. He knew the voice. He recognised it. He just couldn't pinpoint where he recognised it from.

"I thought it would be bigger," said a second voice. That one Leo definitely recognised.

"Pepper!" Leo called out. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to shout, with Obadiah still around somewhere, but the shout was out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

"Leo!" Pepper called in response. "He's here!" After that, Leo heard running sounds and was glad to hear that Pepper was heading in the right direction, the noises getting louder the closer she got to him.

"So is Stane. Be careful," he heard the other familiar voice hiss from around the corner. Whoever he was, Pepper didn't appear to listen to him, running around the corner and straight over to Leo without checking for any form of trap.

"Leo!" Pepper exclaimed in relief as she grabbed the young boy, pulling him in for a tight hug. It didn't last long. Pepper knew they had to get out of there quickly. She pulled back almost as quickly as she had ran to him. "Oh my god, look at you," she gasped, as she noticed the dried blood covering his face and lightly traced above the gash on his forehead with her fingers. Leo pulled back, grimacing. Even the lightest touch caused a considerable amount of pain. "We need to get you to a hospital."

"Anywhere but here is great," Leo agreed in a whisper. "I'm kind of stuck though," Leo pointed out to her by nodding towards the handcuff on his right wrist.

"I've got just the thing for that," the familiar voice, Coulson as it turned out, spoke up as he knelt down beside Pepper and Leo, pulling a small device out of his jacket pocket. "It's a universal key. Haven't found any lock it can't open yet," Coulson explained upon noticing the questioning looks from Pepper and Leo. He pushed the device into the handcuff lock, releasing Leo's right wrist. "Let's get you two out of here."

Leo gulped as he stared past Pepper and Coulson. "Err, easier said than done," he commented as he pointed to something behind them. Pepper and Coulson turned to find Obadiah's huge suit towering above them.

"Run!" Pepper yelled as Obadiah swiped at them with his huge arm. The trio ducked under his arm as Coulson ushered the civilians towards the door. The other five agents dropped back, firing bullets at the suit. Somewhere along the way, Leo and Pepper lost Coulson who dropped back to help delay Obadiah. Neither noticed him do this, focusing too intently on getting to the door. Obadiah was gaining on them but the duo got through the door just before he made a swipe for them. Luckily for Leo and Pepper, the man's suit was too big for him to fit through. "Out, out, out. Keep going!" Pepper called to Leo.

Leo didn't stop running until they were outside the building, Pepper following close behind him. Leo let out a huge sigh of relief when he realised that Obadiah wasn't following them. He didn't want to think about what he was doing instead.

"Tony! Tony, I've got Leo. Are you okay?" Leo suddenly heard Pepper saying. He grabbed the coms device out of his pocket, shoving it into his ear to listen to the conversation.

"I'm fine," Tony answered. "How's Leo? He was unconscious. I couldn't- I couldn't move."

"Still in one piece," Leo responded with a slight smile and heard Tony let out a relieved chuckle over the coms.

"I'm going to get him to the hospital," Pepper informed Tony. "But Obadiah, he's gone insane!"

"I know. Listen, get out of there! Get to the hospital. Right now," Tony ordered urgently. He needed the people he cared about out of harm's way as quickly as possible.

"Pepper?" Leo questioned, his voice shaking as the ground they were standing on started to shake. Leo and Pepper turned around to see the ground in front of them being destroyed, Obadiah in his huge suit rising out of the ground, standing tall above them.

"Where do you think you're going?" Obadiah questioned as he pointed his numerous guns towards Pepper and Leo. Pepper backed away pushing Leo behind her, making herself his shield. "Hmm. You're services are no longer required," Obadiah told Pepper as he aimed at her.

"Stane!" Leo heard Tony yell over the coms as his suit flew over their heads, barging straight into Obadiah's chest. Both suits went flying back through the whole in the ground, disappearing from view. The noises that Leo could hear over the coms suggested that the pair ended up fighting in the middle of a highway.

From where Leo and Pepper stood outside the Stark Industries building, they watched Tony fly up into the sky, Obadiah following closely behind him. As Tony continued higher, Leo realised what he was planning on doing. "The ice," Leo gasped in realisation, smiling at Tony's plan.

"Ice?" Pepper questioned as the pair stared up at the sky, watching the dots of Tony and Obadiah as they got higher and higher.

"Dad tried to beat the altitude record for fixed wing flight when he first tested the suit. He iced up and fell to the ground. He only just got control over the suit back in time," Leo explained to Pepper. "He's going to make Obadiah ice up."

Once Tony got Obadiah up high enough for Obadiah's suit to ice up, Leo couldn't help but smile slightly as he watched Obadiah plummet to the ground. Tony followed him down, running dangerously low on power and crash landing on the roof. "Potts!" He called over the coms upon landing.

"Tony!" Pepper gasped in relief at hearing his voice. "Oh my god, are you okay?"

"I'm almost out of power. I've got to get out of this thing," Tony informed them both over the coms. "I'll be right there."

"Watch out!" Leo gasped as he saw Obadiah suddenly re-emerge, jumping up onto the roof to join Tony.

From the angle they were at, stood at the foot of the building, Leo and Pepper couldn't see any of what was going on. They could, however, hear the clanging of metal as the two suited men fought each other. "Potts," Tony returned to speaking to them over the coms after Leo and Pepper saw a number of flares were set off upon the roof.

"Tony!" Pepper replied instantly, putting a finger to her ear to make sure she heard him properly.

"This isn't working," Tony informed them, keeping his voice down and whispering. "We're going to have to overload the reactor and blast the roof."

"Well how are you going to do that?" Pepper questioned as Leo glanced up to the roof nervously, almost expecting to see Obadiah jump down from it and threaten them once again.

"You're going to do it," Tony told her. "Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I'll let you know. You're going to hit the master bypass button. It's going to fry everything up here," Tony explained the process to her step-by-step.

"Okay, I'm going to go in now," Pepper told her as she approached the doors of the building. Glass covered the floor from where the windows had been destroyed by the floor shaking. She looked at Leo as she stepped through the door. "Stay right there. Don't move," she instructed him. Leo nodded eagerly.

"Make sure you wait until I've cleared the roof," Tony reiterated. The last thing he wanted was to be hit by the blast as well. "I'll buy you some time."

As Leo watched from outside whilst Pepper followed the instructions that Tony had given her, Leo heard the clanging of metal as Tony reengaged in the fight with Obadiah. "It's ready, Tony!" Pepper called over the coms after a few more minutes of fighting. "Get off the roof!"

Suddenly, rapid gunshots rang out and Leo watched, horrified, as the glass roof above Pepper fell down on her. Pepper ducked, putting her hands to her head to protect herself. "Tony!" Pepper called out when the gunshots and glass rain finally stopped. Leo looked up at the ceiling inside the building to see his dad hanging from a bar on the roof, a huge drop between him and the floor that Pepper was stood on.

"Pepper!" Tony called out from where he was gripping on for dear life above her. A shot from Obadiah missed him by a metre, exploding behind him. "Time to hit the button!" Tony called down to Pepper.

"You told me not to!" Pepper shouted up in response, hand hovering over the button, waiting for the right time to push it.

Another shot from Obadiah missed Tony, exploding behind him yet again. "Just do it!" Tony yelled.

"You'll die," Pepper yelled back up to him, making no move to push the button.

"Dad! No!" Leo shouted over the coms. He didn't take his eyes off Pepper, willing her not to press the button. "There must be another way," Leo insisted, his voice shaking and betraying his attempts to sound assured and certain.

Tony let go of the beam so he was only holding his weight with one arm, allowing him to drop ever so slightly closer to Pepper. "Push it!" He ordered urgently. This could be their only chance. If they didn't take he now, he wasn't sure how else they could stop Stane.

Leo watched as Pepper looked away from Tony, looking down at the button instead. "Pepper! No!" He yelled, running into the building with the intent to stop her. There was never any chance of Leo getting to her in time to stop her. By the time he'd taken three steps, Pepper had already pressed the button. Electricity burst out of the huge arc reactor and Pepper ducked, making a run out of the building, pushing Leo out as she reached him.

Once Pepper got Leo a safe enough distance away from the building and stopped pushing him back, Leo dropped to a sitting position on the floor, putting his head in his hands. Even the heat from the exploding building didn't get him to look up as he fought back tears. After facing the possibility of his dad's death when he'd been in captivity for three months, Leo had only just gotten him back – and a better version of his dad at that. Now, he'd lost him again. This time, seemingly for good. Pepper attempted to place a comforting hand on his shoulder but Leo shrugged her off. Instead, she simply sat down beside him as the sound of the emergency services sirens got louder.

It turned out it was the adrenaline; the survival instinct that had kept Leo going. As soon as the threat of being killed by Obadiah had been eradicated, Leo fell back into unconsciousness and Pepper demonstrated fast reactions to catch him before he hit his head on the ground.


	9. I Am

**Chapter Nine: I Am…**

Leo groaned as he opened his eyes. He had hoped everything that had happened was a crazy dream but considering he woke in a hospital bed, he assumed that wasn't the case. "Hey kiddo. How are you feeling?" A voice from a chair beside his bed asked.

Leo frowned. He recognised that voice. He'd recognise it anywhere but, it couldn't be. Unless. "Am I dead?" Leo asked as he turned his head to look at his dad sat in the chair beside him.

"No buddy," Tony answered with a chuckle as he shook his head. "Somehow, and don't ask me how, I managed to survive the roof exploding."

"Can anything kill you?" Leo questioned. Tony laughed at that but Leo had been deadly serious in asking it. "My dad's immortal."

"I doubt that," Tony replied with a shake of his head. He leaned over to the empty chair next to him, picking up a newspaper that had been left there. "But, your dad is Ironman," Tony told him as he passed the newspaper over to Leo.

Leo opened the newspaper up to see a picture of the suit on the front page. He looked at the title, written in big bold letters. "Who is the Iron Man?" He read before looking back up at Tony. "That's awesome!" He exclaimed, grinning.

"Indeed it is. Even if it" Tony agreed with a nod, as he took the newspaper back, knowing full well that Leo wasn't going to sit there and read the full article. He chucked the newspaper back onto the empty chair beside him. "How's the head?"

Leo's hand went straight to the right side of his forehead and his fingers were met by the feeling of stitches. "It doesn't even hurt," Leo shrugged as he answered. He had forgotten all about his head injury until Tony had mentioned it.

Tony laughed again. "That's because you're dosed up on painkillers," Tony informed him. "You're going to have one hell of a scar. That will be a good story to tell the girls."

Leo laughed this time. "It would be a good story," he agreed, "If I could tell it."

"Why couldn't you tell it?" Tony questioned.

Leo looked at him, confused, "I can't go around telling people that my dad is Ironman even if it would be cool."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a secret. Isn't it?"

There was a beat as the father and son duo fell silent, looking at each other and both imagining how much more fun it would be if it didn't have to be a secret. If it was on the front cover of the newspaper, Leo knew all his classmates at school were probably going to be talking about it when they got back from the summer break. It would be so much cooler for Leo if he were able to talk about his own involvement.

"Yes, it is a secret," Pepper enforced, interrupting Leo's daydream of having the attention of all his classmates as he told his story, as she entered the hospital room. She stopped at the foot of Leo's bed and smiled at him. "It's good to see you awake, Leo. How are you feeling?"

"Never felt better," Leo shrugged. The medicine the doctors had given him was really working. Leo swung his legs over the side of the bed, raring to go. "Can we go home yet? I'm bored already," Leo complained, not to Tony or Pepper's surprise. Leo was energetic and always liked to be active; getting bored, distracted or restless very easily if he didn't have anything to occupy his mind. Being stuck in a stark white hospital room wasn't Leo's idea of fun.

"Hold your horses, tiger," Tony stopped him, placing a hand lightly on his son's chest to stop him from getting off the hospital bed. "The doctors need to take a look at you before we even think about leaving." Leo slumped back against the pillows, folding his arms unhappily. "Here," Tony said, chucking a tablet out of a bag he'd taken to the hospital with him and chucked it onto the bed, "Find something on there to keep yourself entertained."

Leo wasted no time in grabbing the tablet, unlocking the screen and scrolling through to find something he was interested in. Pepper turned her attention to Tony. "I've just spoken to Agent Coulson. He wants you to hold a press conference. There's quite a lot of speculation around who the Iron Man is. People aren't buying the cover story put in place," Pepper informed him.

"The body guard cover story?" Tony scoffed incredulously. "I don't blame them. It's a flimsy cover story."

"It's the one that they're going with. You have to stick to it," Pepper insisted though she was slightly unsure that he would. Tony Stark, after all, didn't like being told what to do. She just hoped he wouldn't be impulsive enough to destroy the cover story put in place. "The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division-"

"You actually memorised all that?" Tony interrupted.

Pepper continued without missing a beat, ignoring his interruption, "Are working on an alibi for you to provide to reduce the speculation around the Iron Man. We just need to arrange the press conference and inform them of the date and time. Agent Coulson placed particular emphasis on ensuring it is arranged sooner rather than later."

The press conference wasn't arranged as immediately as Agent Coulson had hoped. Tony had been especially stubborn about not leaving his son's side throughout Leo's stay in hospital. Despite Leo's insistence that he felt fine, the doctors had kept him in for a further two nights. Leo had managed to keep himself fairly entertained by listening, and reacting, to the numerous Iron Man speculations and conspiracy theories that built up over the days that Tony Stark remained silent surrounding the entire event. Some of the speculations and theories were weirdly close to what had actually happened whilst others were hilariously incorrect.

As a result of Stark's delay in holding the press conference, Agent Coulson found himself with more work to do. Not only did he have to create Stark's airtight alibi, complete with sworn witnesses, but he then had to create an explanation for Leo's admission to hospital. The release of a statement that Leo was in hospital after loosing his footing on the Stark yacht and hitting his head off of the side of the yacht as he fell into the water not only corroborated the alibi created for Tony but also explained his silence despite the controversy and speculations surrounding the events at Stark Industries.

Finally, three days after the events which flung Ironman into the public eyes, Phil Coulson stood in the back room of the press conference with Tony, Pepper and Leo as they watched on a television screen as James Rhodes spoke to the gathered reporters first. Stood at the podium, Rhodey was reinforcing the cover story that a member of Tony's personal security intervened during the events outside Stark Industries.

Coulson approached Tony and held out a number of blue cards for Tony to take. The blue cards contained the alibi that Coulson had spent the last few days working on solidifying and making airtight, packed into a short and clear speech for Tony to follow. "Here's your alibi," Coulson told Tony as he took the cards from him. "You were on your yacht. We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night and sworn statements from fifty of your guests."

"See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just Pepper and me alone on the island," Tony responded as his read through the alibi on the cards, words full with insinuation that Leo didn't understand.

"Considering the press have already been informed that Leo was hospitalised following an incident on the yacht, that would only cause more questions to be posed," Coulson turned down the suggested amendment to the alibi whilst Tony received an all-too-familiar pointed look from Pepper. "That's what happened," Coulson insisted, referring to the statement provided to Tony on the cards, "Just read it word for word."

Tony finished reading the final card. "There's nothing about Stane here," he commented. The press would notice his absence soon enough. It would save time and energy to cover it all in one press conference.

"That's being handled," Coulson assured him without hesitation, making it clear that everything had been thought through. They weren't amateurs. "He's on vacation. Small aircraft have such a poor safety record," Coulson provided further explanation when Tony looked at him inquisitively.

"But what about the whole cover story that it's a bodyguard?" Tony questioned incredulously. The press not buying the cover story at all had been his and Leo's main source of entertainment whilst stuck in the hospital room, and yet they were still sticking to it? "He's my… I mean, is that… that's kind of flimsy, don't you think? I mean, the press aren't buying it."

"We stick to it. Changing it now will only make it look more like a cover up," Coulson insisted. "This isn't my first rodeo, Mr Stark. Just stick to the official statement and soon this will all be behind you." Coulson glanced at the television screen behind Tony, briefly listening to where Rhodey was in his own speech. "You've got ninety seconds," he informed Tony before turning and heading for the door.

"Oh, Agent Coulson!" Pepper called after him as she followed him to the door. "I just want to say thank you, for all your help," she said gratefully, glancing momentarily at Leo who was laughing as Tony started 'practising' reading the statement in a silly voice. "I don't even want to think about what might have happened if-" She cut herself off, deciding she didn't even want to voice her thoughts out loud.

Coulson gave a short nod, eyes full of understanding. "That's what we do," he replied modestly. "You'll be hearing from us."

"From the Strategic Homeland-" Pepper began to recite the name but was cut off, this time by Coulson.

"Just call us SHIELD," Coulson told her, revealing the simplified name and Pepper suddenly couldn't help but wonder why no one had thought of that before. In a division filled with super spies, surely someone would have thought of using the initials which coincidently spelt a rather apt word for a secret agency. With that statement, Coulson walked off, leaving the room without saying a proper goodbye.

Pepper turned back to look at Tony and Leo to see that Tony had given the cards to his son who was stood up at the front of the room, under the television screen that Rhodey was on, pretending to give the speech, ignoring the cards and making up his own. "Let's get this show on the road," Pepper announced, noticing on the television screen that Rhodey was finishing up with his statement.

Tony took the cards back from Leo, much to the young boy's apparent disappointment as he slumped back into his seat. "You know it's not actually that bad," Tony admitted as he approached Pepper. Apparently, reading through it a second time whilst entertaining his son had changed his mind. "Even I don't think I'm Iron Man," he added, somewhat sarcastically. Apparently not.

"You're not Iron Man," Pepper argued as she helped him to put his suit jacket on. She didn't want Tony getting attached to going out in that suit. It was dangerous. Just as she'd predicted, Tony had almost gotten himself and Leo killed.

"Am so," Tony mumbled through the cards in his mouth as he put his arms through his suit jacket.

"You're not," Pepper insisted as Tony took the cards back out of his mouth, holding them in his hands once again.

"He is!" Leo spoke up from where he was sat on the other side of the room, watching them with a look of amusement on his face.

Tony turned around to face Pepper. "You know, if I were Iron Man, I'd have this girlfriend who knew my true identity," He implied casually and Pepper did her best to avoid laughing as she saw Leo's look of disgust at the idea of his dad having a girlfriend, presumably not catching on to the implication. "She'd be a wreck, because she'd always be worrying that I was going to die, yet so proud of the man I'd become. She'd be wildly conflicted, which would only make her more crazy about me." The entire time he was speaking, Pepper made sure to convey no emotion on her face, focusing instead in perfecting his suit and fixing the pocket square in his jacket pocket. "Tell me you don't think about that night."

"What night?" Pepper questioned, acting dumb. She knew exactly what night he was on about but wanted to stall as she tried to figure out how she wanted to respond to him.

"You know," Tony responded instantly without missing a beat.

There were a pause in conversation as Pepper finished fixing his suit and slowly lifted her eyes up to hold Tony's stare. "Are you… talking about that night… that we danced and… went up on the roof and… then you went downstairs… to get me a drink and…" Pepper spoke slowly as they held each other's gaze. "You left me there, by myself?" She finished quickly. "Is that the night you're talking about?"

"Mmhmm," Tony confirmed lamely, uncharacteristically lost for words to respond with. He wasn't exactly used to rejection. It was new, unfamiliar territory that he had no idea how to navigate.

"Thought so," Pepper responded lightly, yet somewhat triumphantly as she fixed his tie. "Will that be all, Mr Stark?"

"Yes, that will be all, Miss Potts," Tony confirmed straight away, the words coming out of his mouth even before Pepper had finished speaking. The return to formalities a further highlight of his failure, he realised, as he rather sharply turned and walked away from Pepper. As he headed for the door which led to the press conference, Tony caught Leo's eye. The eight-year-old was looking at him with the same look Tony had seen in the hospital when Leo had questioned keeping the events and secret and both had imagined the outcome of revealing the true events.

"And now, Mr Stark has prepared a statement," Rhodey was finishing his statement and introducing Tony as he walked into the room and made his way towards the podium. "He will not be taking any questions," Rhodey informed the gathered press who, Tony noticed, were all sat on chairs unlike the last time he'd been in that room. "Thank you," Rhodey finished before vacating the podium, allowing for Tony to take over.

"Uh… it's been a while since I was in front of you," Tony acknowledged as he stuck his hand into his pocket for the cards Agent Coulson had provided him with. "I figured I'd stick to the cards this time," he said as he pulled them out, triggering laughter from the gathered reporters. Tony dropped his attention to the words written on the first card. "There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop-"

"I'm sorry Mr Stark," a female reporter sat on the front row interrupted the speech he was reading off the cards, "But do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared? Despite the fact that you-"

It was Tony's turn to interrupt the reporter, cutting her off mid-sentence. "I know that's it confusing," he spoke over her which quickly encouraged her to stop talking. "It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I'm a superhero."

In the back room where Leo and Pepper stood watching Tony's speech on the same television screen that they had watched Rhodey on moments before, Pepper frowned. "Tony, what are you doing?" She muttered to herself.

Leo was grinning as he watched the screen. His dad had bought up the topic of superheroes himself. Leo let himself wonder whether his dad was going to throw away the speech given to him that he didn't seem to believe would work anyway. Having spent the last few days in hospital daydreaming about the world knowing his dad was the Iron Man, Leo was staring at the screen willing his dad to tell the true story of what had happened. Keeping it a secret would be like his spy movies but having to do that seemed boring in reality and Leo wasn't sure he could keep such a big secret. Perhaps he wouldn't have to.

"I never said you were a superhero," the female reporter who had been questioning the cover story corrected Tony immediately.

"You didn't?" Tony questioned, a frown momentarily flicking across his face as he responded to her. The realisation hit him that he was getting to caught up in his consideration of screwing the script Coulson had given him. It would, after all, be nice to get recognition for the work he had done, instead of some bodyguard receiving it all; not that anyone seemed to be buying that. "Well, good, because that would be outlandish and… fantastic! I'm just not the hero type. Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public…" Tony hesitated, realising he wasn't doing an overly good job at being convincing, possibly intentionally, he wondered.

Beside him, Rhodey turned his attention from the gathered reporters to lean over to Tony. "Just stick to the cards, man," he advised in a low whisper.

"Yeah, okay, yeah," Tony agreed as he whispered back. Stick to the cards, enforce the cover story that everyone was doubting, and get back to some degree of normalcy. "The truth is…" Tony began as he turned back to the gathered reporters. Then he paused again. It was time to settle the debate in his head; go with the real truth or the fabricated truth? He looked at the reporters watching him expectedly. Very few of them believed the fabricated story anyway, they would find out the truth eventually, it might as well be him who told them.

Tony's mind was set and he opened his mouth to reveal all and send the room into chaos again, as he had done the last time he'd held a press conference. "I am-" Tony started but hesitated once again as his gaze fell on Pepper and Leo entering the room. Suddenly, Pepper's words from a few days ago popped to the forefront of his mind.

_You've already got Leo caught up in all this. You're going to get him killed. You're going to kill yourself, Tony._

If things had gone just a little bit differently a couple of days ago, Tony realised that Pepper could well have been right. Leo had been left hospitalised when just a few people knew of the existence of the Iron Man suits. Now, the whole world knew of its existence and Tony revealing himself as the Iron Man would only paint a bullseye on Leo's back. No. He had to do the responsible thing.

"I am informed that a bodyguard intervened during a destructive event occurring at Stark Industries three days ago," Tony continued, glancing down at the cards in his hands to keep himself on track and in line with Coulson's cover story. "I had no personal involvement in these events. In fact, at the time, I was on my yacht in Avalon hosting a party when…"

At the back of the room, a disappointed Leo zoned out of the false information his dad was feeding to the press. It looked like he would have to try and keep a huge secret after all. Leo sighed. Keeping secrets was not as fun as spy movies made it look.


End file.
